Burning Horizon
by burninghorizon
Summary: This is a continuation of Breaking Dawn. It takes place four years afterwards and follows the lives of the elusive Cullen coven. Just when their lives are perfect, a whirlwind of chaos sweeps them away. Another installment in the Twilight saga. 3POVs.
1. Preface

"Guess who?" His hands clasped slowly over my eyes from behind me. I was absolutely certain that however many times he spoke in that velvet voice; the sensation that overcame my body would persist. Although, part of my reaction was missing, it was something that he would miss forever but I was free from the burden of - my burning red blushes that pushed me to the extremes of embarrassments at the most awkward times possible in my human lifetime. Thank god!

"Hmm, Santa Claus?" I spoke softly in a smooth voice that I was just about used to.

"Close enough," Edward whispered in my ear as he turned me around with his hands to face him.

I grinned as wide as possible with sheer elation. "You're just as unbelievable!"

Nothing had changed from before my excruciating transformation; all of my worries had evaporated with my humanity. The only thing that had changed was my species I suppose, _only_ that. To think that I had been worried about my love not being as strong for Edward as it had been before! That passion had to have quadrupled itself. Each time I spent a time with him my desire for him strengthened, though I wouldn't have believed that even possible. I leaned my head forward for one of those moments that I would be insane without, that I would have to die without. His perfect lips found mine.

"Mom!" A tinkling voice echoed down the staircase from upstairs and there was a faint rumbling sound of feet pattering on the marble steps.

Edward smiled, "Here comes the little monster. There's never any peace anymore."

It must have been less than a second until the glass plated door slid open and my angel danced in.

"Ugh, can you two please get a room?" Renesmee's large eyes glinted with humour as she took in the intimate positions that we stood in. Although she sometimes found our relationship embarrassing and a little odd, Edward had assured me that she truly did not mind. In fact she loved it. For that I was grateful, but I was not yet ready to return the favour.

"We already have, we do somewhat own this house you know." Edward stated, interrupting my thoughts. He smiled a loving smile, it was not sort the love that he showed me, but something different that he showed to our baby girl – it was something I could only describe as beautiful adoration. He let my hand slip from his, lurching forward to grab her, well, to grab the air where she had stood previously.

"You're never going to give up are you Dad," Renesmee giggled. I was sure I could see a flow of warmth rush through Edward's body at that last word before she continued, pausing slightly after every word to taunt him further. "You are in fact slower than a four year old."

He straightened up, still smiling, but yet again taking in the fact that he had lost his place as the fastest being in our extensive family and extraordinary group of friends _and_ known enemies, to his own four year old daughter. Although he used the fact that her young teenage appearance meant she was _not_ classed as four years old in this situation as an excuse almost every time.

"Never," Edward never gave up on things easily; he never gave up on protecting me, he never gave up from resisting my blood and never gave up on loving me, through all that I'd done to him. Through all the times I had hurt him with my constant indecisions - which more often than not used to involve Jacob Black, our most regular visitor – he had never stopped. Edward winked at her before turning back to me to resume the moment.

"Out please, you!" I kept my voice as stern as I could whilst holding back the eruption of laughter I had to release. Slowly but surely I was realising that I really wasn't good at this mothering lark. My daughter would just have to put up with having a teenage mother forever, _the shame of it_...

Renesmee swept across the floor, scooping up her thick, green fleeced sweater from the couch and with a roll of her deep eyes, stalked out of the room.

Edward walked back over towards me slowly; his gaze on the door where she'd exited. "I think she's definitely inherited your stubborn gene, Bella."

"And your speed," I whispered. He turned his head to the side to lock his eyes with mine and his expression was priceless.

"A bit too much of that for my liking," he murmured.

Then, his lips were on mine. Two marble statues grinding together. Well, that is what rocks should do, isn't it? However the word I would place here would be melting, that is the word to fit in my unbelievably perfect fairytale.

Time seemed to pass by like a trickling stream, it felt as if it must have been a day at least when we released, but the moon was exactly where it was before outside in the ebony sky. When I was younger, I used to dream of being a princess. Much like any other girl would do at that age – I wished for a life of luxury and diamonds, living in a castle with a heroic prince and a fairy godmother to watch over me forever and ever.

Now, I still can't believe that my dream had come true. I was not royalty by any means, but all this, all that I have, makes me feel exactly like that princess I always wanted to be. Edward was my prince and my guardian all in one. There was no need for a fairy castle or a never ending supply of jewels and money. Not when I had him. He fulfilled every need I had, except one - my thirst. When he was with me I could very nearly extinguish that burn completely but eventually it had to be relieved, meaning a hunting expedition. Hunting had become my least favourite activity. I detested killing innocent animals; it made me feel like a monster. Perhaps, like the monster I was...

My arms slid down to find Edward's waist, while he entwined his fingers around my left hand where my diamond wedding ring glinted in the silvery moonlight.

"I love you so much Bella Cullen."

Five words that made my life more than anything else, the last two meant the most to me because they made this all seem so much more real. They made me sure that I was the one he wanted, the one that he truly loved. I repeated them in my head in his breathtaking tone; 'Bella Cullen' and I couldn't think of one single thing that I would rather be doing at that moment.


	2. Chapter 1

I gave birth to Renesmee over four years ago now, the agony she put me and Edward through, both physical and mental was haunting - yet I don't think I could have had a more perfect child. It's strange to think that something so great could emerge from something so horrific. That afternoon was the absolute worst and best in my entire life and that was a quite a tall order. I had humanly died that day, but now I felt like my whole entire life had begun on that day. Partly because my human memories were so dim and dark but partly because everything afterwards was so bright and vivid that nothing before felt real. It felt like that was the fantasy, not this!

The time when I was bed-bound at the Cullen's because of my little nudger were so torturing for Edward; I couldn't describe what it did to him in words because his depression was far beyond them. The guilt he felt must have been unbearable to live with and my internal pain felt like a minor problem to me next to the state that it left him in, that I left him in. My stupidity - or what I called instinct at the time - had so nearly killed me and I knew that if my heart had ceased forever then, that if I had fallen into a never ending unconsciousness, he would have perished with me. I truly couldn't imagine this world without him. Never mind a world without him that was my entire fault. What haunted me the most was the fact that he was willing to die with and for me, and he always would be, no matter how many times I tried to persuade him otherwise. He would never have forgiven himself for my death if I had not been saved by his burning venom, or forgiven Renesmee for that fact. Sometimes I wondered how I had, though it was never a fault of hers what had happened to me _and _she had sped up the fulfilment of my ultimate wish – my transformation. However, I don't hold grudges. Never have, never will, I think.

My life was so perfect now. It was like this was why I had been born. To be placed in this fantastical whirlwind. Sure, there were the ups and the downs but how boring would everything be without them? If I had to live my life as a human, never discovering this secret world that lurked in the shadows of reality, I would have married an ordinary man, followed an ordinary routine every single day and then died an ordinary person. After my first taste of what I could have, of what I could do with my life, there was no going back. Edward used to be so determined to change my course but now I had something I could relate that feeling to. My first experience of this world that drove me so hard to get what I wanted was like a droplet of shimmering crimson blood, it started a mad frenzy. My success still filled me with delight - this was who I was born to be, this was the part I was destined to play.

The two anchors of my life were stood before me, braced for what had now become a fairly regular feature on our schedule.

"You actually aren't going to give up are you, darling."

Edward replied to me with a breath-taking expression, "I don't give up that easily, you should know that Bells."

It took me a moment to gather what he'd said, to unearth the amount of truth and meaning in that one sentence. It took my supposed suicidal death to stop him from his attempts of keeping away from me - death. I swallowed suddenly, trying to ignore my pessimistic mind, and brushed a lock of my hair softly from my cheek.

"Ready?"

Their eyes narrowed as they glared competitively at each other, and then softened instantly as they laughed in beautiful harmony, bending further towards the swaying grass below them.

"To the border and back!" I had to laugh at how tense Edward was as he crouched closer to the ground; he was _acting _more like a child than she was and she was four! "Three, two, one..."

Edward shot off into the trees out of the comfort of the meadow and into the threatening darkness of the forest that surrounded us.

"Hey, false start Edward!" I yelled after him, taking a couple of steps along his trail. "Get back here! I'm warning you!"

There was a couple of seconds of silence before I added a threatening "NOW!" onto the end of my sentence. I smiled to myself; it felt good threatening him, made me feel as if I had some power.

"Don't sweat it mom, I could catch him any day of the year!" Renesmee grinned and turned elegantly on her heels to shoot after Edward like an unstoppable bullet from a revolver.

I sat down with my legs crossed and lay back. The colourful wildflowers bent sideways to make way for my slender body and then closed around me like a protective blanket, bobbing with the cool breeze. With their speed I only had two minutes to myself at the most, if that! My fingers wound themselves into the grass like they did in Edward's hair and my eyelids slid shut as I breathed in the delicate fragrances that swum in the air around me. It was only too easy to let myself slip into daydream. This meadow would never be the same as our meadow back near Forks but it would always hold a part of us, all of us. Ever since we had left Washington an exact year from Renesmee's birth, I had never returned and as far as I knew neither had any other of my family members. Although the longing to revisit the places from my past was incredibly large, they would bring back such perfect memories from my human life if I was to see them again.

The very first place I saw Edward at Forks High School, the place I discovered the mythical truth that made my life how it is today, the place he proposed to me formally (and I had predictably been unable to refuse) and the place I'd married him. However, along with those memories, there would surely be memories that would be unearthed from the lower moments of my life. Where Edward had left me all alone on the winding forest path, where James had started to hunt me down, craving desperately for my death simply for his own pleasure and where Edward had fought Victoria, twisting and turning at an unbelievable speed while I watched on, utterly helpless. However, the worst thing, had been leaving Charlie and Renee and knowing that I wouldn't see them again. We'd agreed between us that it was just too dangerous to involve them in this when we still had groups of life draining enemies fighting to end our existence. Not if they were human and they _were_ both staying human. I wouldn't tug them into any single part of this, I may have been created to follow this path but my natural parents, definitely were not. I did have Carlisle and Esme now, they were amazing but somehow, I'd always feel that something wasn't right. Maybe that would change in a couple of decades when the ones I knew were my true carers were... dead. Alice would watch out for their futures but we would leave them untouched unless absolutely necessary. I could finally understand why Edward had been so reluctant to change me. The thought of taking away their humanity and plunging them both into this blur of constant threats and fantasy was unbearable to even imagine for a single, lonely second.

From deep in the forest a rushed sound of crackling dead leaves emerged with a sweet scent in the air.

"God, she's getting fast." I mumbled to myself, straightening up and dancing my way to the edge of the trees. Renesmee's childish laugh greeted me as she stopped suddenly by my side.

"You're impossible," I whispered, taking her hand to pull her into a tight, one armed hug.

"I can't wait to see his face!" She giggled into my shoulder. "And it seems like I don't have to wait that long, for once."

Edward emerged from the darkness and paced slowly over towards us, "Beginner's luck".

"Of course, that's only the 42nd time we've done that race. The unfortunate truth... cheats never prosper dad. Surely you should have learnt that from your one hundred and whatever years!" Renesmee grinned as she spoke. She was enjoying this immensely; it was the same every single time. She would win, he would get teased.

His face was trying to disguise the defeat with a false smile. I could see straight through it so easily that it was hard to believe he had even been trying to hide it. With one swift movement he lifted me up onto his back and swept Renesmee into his arms as she continued to laugh to herself. He carried us both gently to the pine that overshadowed the west corner of the small meadow and before she could reject, Edward sat Renesmee on the wide branch over our heads. With his arms around my waist, he swung me round into his arms like cradling a baby then sitting me too on the moss covered bark.

"Never mind love." I attempted to hold back my amused grin, but I've never been too good at will-power. "There's always next time."

He gave me a disapproving look that soon morphed into a crooked smile too. I shuffled to one side leaving a gap between me and Renesmee. He swung himself up to sit between us, arm around my seemingly delicate waist and the other pulling his daughter's head softly to his shoulder. With one fingertip, he traced my cheekbone slowly to my hair which he twirled around his finger, where I had placed his ring over four years ago. Scents of beautiful wild flowers, sweet honey and lavender floated through the cool air around us.

"Where is Jacob today?" I whispered. Edward shuffled a little as if the mention of his name disturbed him. I understood how hard it had been for him to cope with having Jacob around nearly every second and I still wondered whether the two of them would ever fully forgive and forget.

"His sister, Rebecca, came over from Hawaii for a while, he didn't want to stay at home to see her but I forced him to." Renesmee smiled smugly and I could just imagine how easily Jacob would have given up his attempts to spend the day with her as soon as she started to persuade him otherwise. She thought it her childish charm that seemed to pull him round to her way of doing things so unbelievably easily, the rest of us knew otherwise – imprint. That was something that none of us had even dared to tell her about after Jacob had sworn he would personally murder the one who's lips let out that secret. Both Edward and I knew that this fear of her knowing the truth had probably arisen from thoughts of the future. If she did 'love' him later on in life, Jacob worried that if she knew he was somehow forced to, she would banish all of her feelings.

The silence was interrupted by the muffled sound of a yawn against Edward's shoulders. I suppose I had forgotten just how quickly the burden of exhaustion came on when you were human. Renesmee was definitely not human but she had picked up a lot of things from me, needing to sleep every night was just one of them.

"Time to sleep is it?" Edward brushed his fingertips along her eyelids, sliding them shut. "I am not surprised after last night."

Alice had kept us active every minute of last night with her so called 'birthday party' for Emmett's human birthday, all twelve hours of it. Baseball, soccer and football (which was the most amusing thing I had seen in years – a group of nine overly competitive vampires playing sport was unforgettable) had been on the agenda, followed by an hour of dancing and partying and a water fight near the end. In which Emmett, Jacob and Edward had completely waterlogged the garden. It wasn't a shock to us that Renesmee was absolutely exhausted, especially as she had not got a minute of peaceful sleep. She laid her head onto Edwards's lap, her rich chocolate eyes firmly shut.

"It is actually quite embarrassing, having you watch me sleep." The corners of her mouth turned up into a soft smile. "I'm not a baby anymore."

"Tough!" I leapt down from the branch quickly, Edward followed suit holding her tight in his cradled arms. "And I would say you are still a baby, our baby."

I truly meant that. Although she may not look her true age at all, that young teenage appearance was just a mask that covered her child like mind and heart. We walked at a fairly human pace with no need to hurry back, watching our gem fall into unconsciousness and I knew why Edward used to be so intent on watching me as I slept, it was stunningly beautiful. In fact, it took us three whole hours to get back. I hadn't realised that Edward was taking a detour for the simple reason that I was so absorbed in his eyes to focus on anything else apart from keeping my legs moving. A couple of minutes from the clearing he'd stopped and laid Renesmee carefully on a padded patch of thick moss amongst the bushy ferns. He'd taken me by the waist and let his lips caress mine so smoothly that my mind turned to a meaningless mush. The electric current that I'd learned to crave for every day had reinstated itself in my veins at his sliding touches on my back. It was incredible how something so ordinary looking to others could be so utterly extraordinary to me. That feeling that came with his kisses was something that nothing or nobody else could give me. It was so perfect.

Our home now was a large, near ancient and very traditional looking hunting lodge hidden in the depths of the Canadian forest that was set not far above Forks and fairly near to Vancouver. I didn't want my past to be too far away and Jacob Black couldn't be too far away from us now, for more reasons than one. Imprinting was unfortunately the main. Alice had made certain that none of the interior of the house was outdated, naturally replacing the rotting floorboards with brand new surfaces of shiny oak and polished marble. I had protested strongly about getting two separate houses although the cottage was so beautiful. Therefore we now lived as one as I more than often seemed to get my way nowadays, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Edward, Renesmee and me. The Cullens, a vampire family full of star crossed lovers.

"Oh, your back!" Alice swept over to us as Edward pressed the heavy wooden door back into its frame. She took one glance at Renesmee. "What did you do? Did you make her run a double marathon or something?"

"Races again." I winked at her. "Renesmee wanted to reinforce the fact that she is faster than her dad but she's totally exhausted from last night as well."

I made sure I emphasised 'faster', just to see his face. He somewhat threw Renesmee into Alice's arms, grabbing me firmly round the waist and pulling me in like a deathly current so that his face pressed firmly against mine.

"No need to rub it in," He swung me around his body in the air so I landed on the sofa, I let out a high pitched shriek as he pounced up on top of me with a smirk.

"You two are pathetic; you're going to wake her!" Alice's expression was somewhat disgusted but she was right. We were both _parents _now_;_ parents did not wrestle each other and scream while they were meant to be caring for their baby. I sprang up immediately while Alice rocked Renesmee from side to side like an infant.

"Umm - sorry Alice." It felt like being told of at primary school. Alice held her forward to my arms, her expression softened.

"No, I'm sorry Bella. You're perfect, ignore me."

I took Renesmee, grasped Edwards waiting hand and dragged him out of the room to escape my sister's gaze. Sometimes she could be a little, overpowering. The top floor belonged exclusively to the three of us. Renesmee's room was second biggest in the whole house to Alice's. Seen as Alice had done all the room arrangements, I hadn't needed visions of the future to see that she would gain the largest room. She had hung a wispy, cream coloured curtain over the frame of Renesmee's four-poster and filled the room with delicate wooden furnishings that were now covered with embroidered tops, shimmering jewellery and her many colourful drawing sets during her decoration. I laid Ness down in the centre of the bed, sitting beside her head with both of my legs crossed.

"Hungry?" Edward asked, as he sat in front of me, inspecting my irises visually. I could see in my reflection that they were jet black, echoing the fire in the back of my throat.

"To be honest, I am craving chocolate, but I know I'll find it revolting," I grinned but his response had less humour.

His forehead creased, "Please don't say you have regrets."

How could he think I regretted becoming what I am now, no matter how much he believed he was soulless, I believed both of our souls had just become complete and nothing could change my mind on that matter.

"Would I ever?"

"Would you?"

"No," I whispered, stroking his hand a little. "I will never regret it in all eternity."

I stared admiringly at Renesmee's angelic face, so innocent in dream filled sleep. I pushed Edward onto his back, no longer afraid of injuring him as much as in my first year of this life now that my burst of newborn strength had faded away. Sitting on his chest, my fingers glided over his eyelids like his had done earlier with Nessie. I knew he couldn't sleep but he obeyed me, freezing into a still and perfect marble statue. A statue of my god, the one I worshipped and the one I would trust my life with. I leant my head on his neck, closing my eyes too and letting the time pass by in complete tranquillity.

"Urgh!"

The noise startled me so much during the perfect silence that I rolled off Edward onto the hard, wooden floor beneath us. His face appeared over the side of the mattress, not concerned but filled with pure amusement.

"Unbelievable," He said as he pulled me up onto his lap, his gleaming smile stunned me more than the noise. "Unbelievably unbelievable."

"What, me or her?" I whispered, trying to maintain full consciousness while he dazzled me as usual.

"Both of you really," His grin widened as he spoke. "_She_ sleeps exactly like you used to and _you_ are still extremely human for a vampire."

That couldn't be good news for her; nightmares and sleep talking did not make for a very relaxing night of rest. A small hand grasped my leg, squeezing it as tight as possible. I glanced down at where the pressure was coming from. Renesmee's faced was scrunched up into a small scowl.

"What's she thinking?" I whispered.

Edward looked at her still body, and then his face creased.

"Nightmare I should think. Something about the Volturi and Jane, it's too dark, I can't make everything out."

"You can't see?"

"I can see, but it's very blurred. Maybe her nightmares are just unclear to me. Or maybe they're unclear to her..."

_Great._

I had no chance to reply out loud. He took me by the hand firmly and shot downstairs to the open hallway so fast that I was nearly flying along behind him. Esme rushed frantically around in front of us, gathering coats, tents and several creased rucksacks from different cupboards along the walls.

"Family outing?" I queried.

Esme calmed, "Yes, everyone's coming for once. Another of Emmett's birthday presents from Rosalie, he wanted a hunt so be ready in twenty minutes honey."

I'd never been hunting with all of them, not everyone in the family. Part of me yearned to hunt alone with Edward, but I liked the idea of a _family _outing. I loved it, like I loved all of them. No doubt Emmett would make it as hellish for me as he could, ever since I had beat him in that first arm wrestling match he'd become intent on issuing his version of revenge. His constant jeering analysis of my actions in front of everyone else usually humiliated me to such a point that I wanted to scream, but I loved him just the same - somehow, somewhere, very, very , very deep down.

Alice burst through the door, her face torn between confusion and anxiety.

"Vision?" I guessed, but it was more of a simple statement. There were only few situations where Alice looked like this. She had either had a vision of the future that wasn't so great, her plans for the day had been totally and utterly ruined or I had picked out clashing clothes from my never ending closet. She had chosen all of my perfectly matched clothes this morning so it had to be one or the other. Alice's response was a mere nod. My hand gave into a slight trembling due to the way she looked at me.

"Is it bad?" No matter what species I was, some of me would still remain part chicken.

"I'm not sure, that's the problem."

Why was everything so uncertain today? I had to know what was going on or it usually drove me insane, I wasn't one for shocks or any sort of surprises whatsoever.

Edward's body tensed as he stared out of the window into the sky.

"We're going to have a visitor, another vampire; I think she'll be a nomad." He snarled slightly on the word 'visitor'.

"What if they're just visiting?" I whispered.

"Haven't you learnt more than to trust 'visitors'?" Edward smiled sarcastically, "Anyway, it's only _one_ vampire. It'll be as easy as breathing if the worst comes to the worst."

I remembered of our visitors years back, James and Laurent and Victoria. Hardly to be trusted but all eliminated, by us. Not without difficulty I might add. There constant attempts at attacking had meant me coming as close to death as was possible, three times in a row. A loud thud from upstairs interrupted our rather tense conversation.

"How big does that girl's bed need to be?" Edward flashed his perfect teeth in a grin, darting upstairs. "I swear that one's bigger than king-size."

"You're sure we'll be fine?" I stepped towards Alice.

"Bella, I can promise that nothing will harm any of us today. One vampire is nothing." Her genuine smile eased most of my worries easily, "I've put some more clothes out for you, and we're going in ten minutes not twenty, you'll be ready in time."

"Brilliant!" She knew I was joking by the sarcasm in my voice. With no need for a sigh or reply from her, I swept up the curling staircase. Renesmee had the thick eiderdowns from her king size bed in a heap on top of her body, which was curled up in a tight ball on the wooden floor.

"Definitely a disturbed sleeper." Edward crouched down besides her, delicately unwrapping her from the tangled covers, "I'm surprised she doesn't sleepwalk already!"

I whispered in her ear, my hair brushing gently against her rosy cheek. "Wake up honey, we're going out."

Her eyes flickered open, then shut quickly again as she groaned and rolled onto one side.

"Will you wake up if I said we're going hunting?" Edward grinned, "I could carry you there so you can sleep longer, build your strength, if that's what you really want."

That made her sit up, eyes full of ravenous hunger.

"That's a different story and dad; it would almost certainly be quicker if I carried you!"

Edward lifted her up, tossed her onto the bed and pinned her down with his icy grip. If it wasn't for his amused expression, it would have looked like a threatening move. Her response was a whack to his head with the scarlet pillows, typical.

"Ten minutes, I'll be suffering Alice's fashion choices." I smiled, and slid out of her room into my own. Our room was the attic of the lodge, transformed spectacularly by Alice, a whole side of the roof was a glass window with stunning views and an oversized flat screen covered the wall opposite our golden framed bed. Waiting on my couch was a perfectly folded pile of clothes. I lifted up the first item, letting it unfold in my hands; I fingered the silk material carefully. A blue pashmina, nice. One by one, I inspected the rest. A deep red gilet, skinny denim jeans, a white cotton blouse and a deep red and white baseball cap. For once, Alice had gone for something with at least a hint of practicality. A piece of patterned paper floated steadily to the ground as I inspected the last item. I scooped it up, reading the curly, perfectly sized hand writing.

I hope you like the clothes Bella. We're all coordinated of course, variations on your red.

Alice

xxxx

I could imagine exactly how she would have smiled when she was carefully selecting our hunting outfits and writing me this tiny note. From now on, she _was _my personal stylist, shopper and dresser and there was no way possible to worm myself out of that. Anyhow, I followed her words and pulled on the clothes before gliding back downstairs to make sure I wasn't late.

"Eee, Bella!"Alice squeaked, running over in matching clothes, a lemon colour replacing my red. Rosalie was in a deep purple that complimented her light, flowing hair, Esme in a warm olive colour and with Edward by the doorway, Renesmee in blue, her tousled hair draped over one shoulder. Edward looked as mind-boggling as usual in dark trousers and a plain white shirt, but that wasn't a surprise and by the way he was gazing, he thought the same of me. Although truthfully I knew that he didn't give a damn about what my clothes looked like.

"Are you ready?" Esme asked, glancing at each of us in turn. I wondered if they'd decided to ignore what Alice saw completely. A chorus of agreement echoed around the circle.

"Meet at the lake, due west." Carlisle smiled humorously at Renesmee. "I know it's almost impossible to run as a group."

"I'll race you." Emmett challenged, elbowing Nessie gently in the ribs. Before she could respond, he had already begun to sprint out of the doors and with a short sigh of boredom; she followed him outside with the knowledge that she would beat him by miles without even trying.

Everybody else flitted outside quickly, but before I could, Edward's perfect arms were around my waist, lifting me up to perch on his back.

"I can keep up!" I was rather disgruntled by the fact he thought I was too slow to run by myself. Just because he had incredible speed, could he not slow down by a couple of milliseconds for me?

"I know," I felt his cheeks lift into a grin under my fingertips, "For old time's sakes Bella." He shot off, tapping the door shut behind us with his foot. My hair flew back like an explosion in the wind.

"Has Alice told everyone?" The wind carried my voice away but he would hear.

"Of course she has."

I gripped onto his shirt tightly as he swerved from side to side around the maze of trees and undergrowth. "And you don't think it's any threat to us?"

"If I did, would I willingly be carrying you right towards the danger." He responded, "Hmm?"

I didn't reply because I was certain he already knew my answer. Edward would never, under any circumstances, personally take me anywhere near the slightest hint of danger. To him, almost everything could morph into a threat, he was such a pessimist. I nearly fell right off his back when he came to an abrupt halt by the waterside. Emmett and Carlisle were setting up the dark navy multi-compartment tent with ease, the boys Christmas present from Esme and Carlisle. Personally, I didn't see why they needed a tent, never mind one of this ridiculous size but Jasper had insisted that it was a 'boy's thing' and that us girls didn't understand or appreciate the truth of the outdoors. That had triggered a ferocious debate and a half, one that lasted three days, two hours and thirty two minutes to be precise, over which gender was ultimately the best. We girls had won of course, primarily because of Alice, Rosalie and me charming our hopeless opponents and the addition of the slightest bit of blackmail, which may have involved some threats about the boy's cars... and mallets mixed in - something that brought an immediate and pathetic wave of panic over Emmett, Jasper _and _Edward. The thought of their precious BMWs and shiny Aston Martins being reduced to piles of shattered glass and crumpled metal was too much for them to bear.

"Careful Mr Cullen," I jumped down.

"Sorry love." His crooked smile appeared again. "I mean, Mrs Cullen of course."

I didn't shudder at the mention of that name as I used to do so much before the wedding. Even the mention of being a 'Mrs.' used to terrify me. Four years on, all of the terror had faded, just about.

"What's for tea, any mountain lions roaming around tonight?" I whispered.

He leant back his head, smelling the cool evening air.

"Only deer I'm afraid, and if you're quick enough, there's some grizzlies out there somewhere down near the waters too."

I smiled, although the idea of hunting was still strange to me. The rusty, salty smell of blood that used to instinctively set off a feeling of nausea in my stomach now smelt so delicious to me that it still laughed every time I thought about how one thing could change so much in such a short time. Along with remembering the unpleasant smell of blood when I was human, I could also still remember the tastes of human food, cravings for sugary sweets and treats, salted chips and fresh salads in the summer. Edward can remember the taste of blood and blood alone now that it had been over a century since the taste of food had appealed to his senses. I sometimes wished it was that easy for me.

"Carlisle, we're hungry." Edward announced, clearly he was speaking for the rest of the group as well as himself. Emmett stood up, the keenest for action packed fights with ferocious grizzly bears.

"Then we'll hunt." Carlisle smiled, gliding into the threatening darkness of the forest, teaming with wildlife. We followed suit, ready for our food, ready for the taste blood of blood to reach our tongues.

It didn't take long before the first pack became our victims, my razor teeth sinking into the warm throat of a frantic doe.


	3. Chapter 2

We circled the second group. They had no hope of surviving. I still couldn't bring myself to look into the petrified eyes of the meal. There was no need, ten quick seconds and it was done. The sweet scent of blood drifted gently into the air as we drank from their snapped necks. Golden colour slowly drained into our eyes, replacing the intimidating, ravenous black that arrived with our hunger. One of the worst sights was seeing the bodies we left behind in the fires, drained of blood, drained of their innocent life. After my first hunt, my hair was matted, my clothes ripped and my face covered in blood. Now I could manage a hunt with just blood on my lips and my chin and my hair a little tangled. I was still lacking behind Edward, who looked as perfect as always after _his_ hunt, even more perfect when his eyes were back to a shimmering golden colour.

"Hmm," Edward licked his lips as we reached camp again, tracing his finger around my mouth. He slid his finger between my lips, letting me suck the blood from his solid skin. "Not much of a game, no fun, but it was tasty enough."

I shot him an icy glare.

"Sorry Bella, I forgot you still have a conscience." He said, retracting his finger from where my teeth dug into his skin.

"Oops." I hadn't realised just how hard my teeth had been pressing as he spoke.

"No problem, love..." He froze, never ending his sentence. Alice followed suit as a new scent trickled into the air, not a scent I knew, but one of our kind for sure. If it had been a human, they would have seriously wished that they had not decided to take this path. Not while we were in hunting mode.

"The _visitor."_ Alice mouthed as Jasper tensed in front of her. It was then that I realised where the scent was coming from.

"She's in the tent?" I whispered, answered by a certain nod by Carlisle. His expression was calmer than ours; I'd never known someone as trusting and well, as innocently nice as my father in law.

"She means no harm. She's upset." Edward murmured, approaching the tent cautiously and pronouncing his words clearly, "Umm. Hello, I'm Edward Cullen."

His tone reminded me of the first time we spoke. An unforgettable conversation, no matter how boring it sounded to others around us in that biology classroom.

A rustle sounded from inside the humongous tent and a small, slender figure emerged. She was young looking. Older than Renesmee's appearance age, I would say she was sixteen. Her dark blonde hair went well past her shoulders in a neat set of gentle waves. Her skin was pale and vulnerable looking and her black lashes framed her golden coloured eyes perfectly. However, distracting me from her perfect and innocent appearance was something on her cheek. A silvery scar of a recent bite gleamed in the light. She _was _upset, but from the expression on her face I would describe it more as utterly heartbroken.

She spoke in a voice even softer than Esme's. "I'm Aymie. Sorry for intruding into your camp. I haven't had any shelter for two weeks. It was...somewhat irresistible."

"Whatever is the matter, Aymie?" Esme's motherly instincts kicked in almost immediately.

"I've heard about you, the Cullens." Her expression was so pained; her gaze fell to the floor. "You're vegetarians." She sighed again, bringing her gaze back up to us. "I wanted to be like you, I wanted to be good, it's taken me four years to attempt to get a grip on myself. I don't want to be a life sucking monster, it's not who I am or who I want to be."

Edward interrupted, saving her from fighting her silent sobs. "Her coven disowned her and her mate tried to kill her when she came clean about this to them."

Rosalie took a subconscious step forward, and then hesitated. _Her_ boyfriend had tried to kill her, I remembered the spine tingling story she'd told me the night I was held prisoner by Alice at the Cullen's house. I remember every detail of Royce and his friends, tearing Rose's clothes and hat away from her body and physically attacking her. Then leaving her, almost dead, in the street until Carlisle found her laying limp and lifeless. Thank god my history of boys had never ventured anywhere vaguely close to any men who would think of inflicting that sort of pain and humiliation on their fiancée. Thank god, I'd only had Edward.

"Do you have nowhere else you could stay?" Edward murmured hesitantly, it seemed he was against the idea of another joining our group tonight.

She shook her head.

"You're welcome to rest near us tonight Aymie; we have a smaller tent with us if you require any shelter." Carlisle walked forward slowly, holding out his arms. "I've met you before if I am correct. You're from Matthew's clan in Alaska?"

"Thank you sir." She whispered politely, shuffling her foot against the ferns. "Yes, I used to be with them."

"Call me Carlisle, please." He turned swiftly towards the boys. "Fetch Aymie a snack boys, she has had a long day by the sounds of it."

One by one they sprinted of into the trees, Edward leaving my side to bring up the rear reluctantly.

"Bella, could you put up that spare tent please" I turned to find the smaller tent for this young intruder, Aymie. That was all she was to me, an intruder, I can't help thinking that we should be more careful. We'd barely even met this child and she was already staying with us. As I headed for the woods, I overheard Carlisle speaking to Renesmee.

"Could you try and talk to her, introduce us; she seems about your age Nessie." Carlisle whispered, watching Aymie's back as she wandered into the trees. I turned my head to see something that made another shiver ripple down my spine. Renesmee was shooting the coldest glare I've ever seen her make, full of horror and realisation at Aymie's back. Something I would only send at my enemies, something totally out of her character.

That night we sat around the fire on Alice's tiny camping stools. I watched the flames flicker around the helpless logs, devouring them in smoke. Aymie had disappeared into the woods to quench the rest of her thirst and she had become the topic of tonight's discussion.

"She needs our help. Let her stay with us for a while until she becomes more independent." Carlisle spoke softly, urging for the opinions of us all. "Or she could get herself into trouble."

Esme spoke next, "I say we help her, she's hurt." Esme could never leave someone to suffer; she would never harm anyone unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Stay." Jasper whispered, to me he seemed totally uninterested in this. To him this would be just another hopeless case where he would have to feel everything they felt.

"She's like I was." Rosalie's voice neared a croak.

Emmett spoke for both of them. "Let the kid stay. It's about time something got a little more fun around here."

"I say we help her, _temporarily_." Edward turned to me. I was still thinking about earlier when I answered, absentmindedly.

"I'm with Edward." He looked at me disapprovingly. Avoiding one of his lectures on how I don't have to agree with him for his sake, I turned to Renesmee.

"Nessie, what do you think?" Carlisle said. Heads turned towards her. Edward's body tensed.

"I think we'd best not ask her." His voice was almost a growl, a snarl. She looked up, pulling herself from her thoughts, now aware of all the concerned eyes on her. In less than a second she had disappeared into the trees, tearing her gilet on the camping stool. I froze, everyone froze.

What was that? My daughter horrified and my husband, growling at her. I rose to my feet, stepping away from the circle of chairs around the fire.

"What was she thinking?" I hissed to the figure I knew would be behind me.

"You don't want to know, love." Edward's face was full of confusion.

I spun around, locking my hands on his shoulders. "Tell me, Edward."

Why he still bothered to keep things from me was a mystery. He knew I'd argue until I got my way and he preferred not to argue with _me _anyway.

"She was thinking, 'I need to kill her, kill her now.' Consciously or not, I don't know."

I blinked, that was all I could do. My daughter was not a killer, a murderer, a savage...

"She wants to kill her?" I took Edward's wrist, pulling him forcefully into the forest.

"Bella, I don't know." His arms set like chains around my shoulders, restraining me. "She's running somewhere; we can't keep up darling, not with her."

"Why would she think that? Aymie is harmless." I whispered.

"So it seems." His eyes glinted in an unusual way. "Jealousy?"

Why would she be jealous of a girl she had only just met and a girl that didn't have the near perfect life she did? It wasn't who she was anyhow.

"No!" My sudden burst of rage erupted, spilling over the top of the crater like lava in a volcano.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Edward turned back towards Renesmee's trail.

"No, you shouldn't!" With one last glance into the darkness, I headed back to our glowing, canvas tent.

"What was all that about?" Rosalie asked, pushing her body above Emmett's much to his annoyance.

"I don't know Rose, she's run off." I unzipped my compartment of our tent and I heard Emmett and Rose resume what I had interrupted them from before. Alice followed me in, her hair bouncing gently as she settled on the pillow next to me.

"It's alright Bells. She'll be back in the morning, plus, I see Aymie gossiping with someone, most probably Renesmee seen as I can't see who it is, unless she's into hanging around with the werewolves." Her fingers slid through my hair, plaiting it into a loose braid down to the nape of my neck. "Perhaps, she just doesn't like change."

"Oh."My eyes slid shut, I suppose I was sleeping. I slept without the any of the sleep, just the dreams - and the nightmares. Perhaps, she didn't like change...

The first beams of shimmering light snaked into the tent creating a peculiar orange colour under my eyelids.

"That was the longest night ever." I announced as my eyes flickered open, emerging from my dreams. I realised that I had been announcing my discomfort to myself. "Oh."

My compartment was empty, as it had been for the whole night. The sapphire cushions untouched, apart from where Alice had sat briefly before. My sleepless dreams had been mixed last night. Full of confusion, blindness and worries. Faces of people I'd rather forget but that I knew I would see again soon. There was no preventing that, our business with the Volturi was far from over, all they needed was a single trigger.

"Goodnight Bella?" Esme asked as I emerged.

"Not really. Is Edward back with Renesmee yet?" How could they totally ignore last night, my daughter could be hurt, out there alone with no protection.

"No sweetie."

I replied with a nod.

"We're going out for a hunt again at nine. Emmett has spotted some grizzlies by the creek."

"Spotted and ate." Carlisle added, wrapping his arm around Esme's tiny waist.

"Okay Esme, I'll be there." I managed a polite smile and climbed outside into the clearing. Glowing embers of the fire still remained from last night and the grasses bobbed gently in the breeze and the dew drops that hung on the ends trickled off into the soil. Jasper sat with Alice, stroking her smooth hair over by the lakeside. Rose was sat opposite Aymie in the middle of a light-hearted conversation. I walked over, writing my extensive introduction in my head.

"Hi, I'm Bella." I mumbled.

Impressive start - not. Could I even seem more unimpressive?

"Hello, Renesmee's mother, right?" I noticed how each word was perfectly pronounced.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about last night."

"No, forget it. I think we're going to be friends." She smiled such an angelic smile that I couldn't argue.

"Great." I shot her a true smile, surely they _would _be friends. She was so sweet, adorable and perfect. Edward's scent became more pungent in the already fragrant morning air, alongside the strawberry sweet scent of my daughter. There was no way I was having another scene, even with my family, the privacy of the trees would do just fine. I ripped a large leaf from a fern as I sat down, head on knees, on the moss covered log. I shut my eyes to wait, ripping strips of feathery green away from the stem in my hands.

"Morning." Edward's hands clasped delicately around my cheeks, rousing me instantly from the bursts of daydreams that filled my mind. Renesmee lay on his knees as he crouched beside me, curled up in silent sleep.

"What happened?" I whispered, snuggling my head into his chest. His lips turned up into a crooked smile."Where was she?"

"She tried to outrun me, passed out right near the border and at the moment..." He glanced down at her flushed face. "She's having a nightmare. I bet that's what happened earlier, a dream that felt like reality. It's common in children." He grinned, obviously proud of his supernatural abilities.

"I'm not surprised on less than one hour of sleep." I spoke into his chest. It was still rare that we spent a night apart so when we did, I felt so alone that they had to be the worst times of my life now.

"I'll drop her off at the tent," Edward stood up, carrying Renesmee in one arm like a bag of sugar, with no effort at all.

"I'll stay with her." I whispered, while we glided through the trees. "You can go with the others."

"Bella. Your eyes are still near stone black. I may not be able to read your mind, but I know you're ravenous."

He was right, the fire at the back of my throat was still burning and the pathetic amounts of blood in the deer yesterday had done near to nothing to quench my thirst. The others were arranged around the water side. Aymie stood in a new outfit of what I guessed must be Alice's due to the fact that everything she wore seemed to have a designer label sewn onto it somewhere. I snuck into the tent behind Edward. He laid Renesmee's clammy body onto the groundsheet and slipped a fleeced cushion under her head.

"Do you want _me _to stay?" Alice's voice tinkled into the tent as she ducked her head inside. "She'll freak if she wakes up alone." Her eyes shimmered, a satisfied golden brown.

"Thanks Alice." I wrapped my arms around her.

"Emmett's impatient." Edward said, as he slid his arms under mine, lifting me from the tent floor into his arms. "Do I have to force feed you? Hold you down and feed it into your mouth myself."

That was an intriguing idea.

"Possibly." I grinned.

Aymie was quite a spectacular hunter; she seemed full of experience in tracking and came up with tactics like an automatic sixth sense. It was one of the easiest and most enjoyable hunts that I had had. Even with vicious and agitated grizzlies as our victims.

"Mr Cullen," I whispered. Edward turned around, pressing his solid lips to mine. "I'm going back Edward." I managed to murmur through his passionate kiss. He pulled away softly.

"If you have to, I'll meet you back love, I think there's a chase ahead."

"Boys will be boys." I whispered, and we smiled in synchrony. With a quick peck on his cheek, I turned on my heels and started to run back to camp. I felt the presence of someone running beside me almost immediately.

"Do you mind if I join you, Bella?" Aymie said, "I would like to meet your daughter, if that's alright."

"Sure, I'm not certain if she's feeling too great but she should be fine with a visitor." I reflected her smile. With one last breath of the sweet scented air, I tucked my bag securely under my arm and slid into the trees. We could just about keep a conversation up through the wind that rushed past us, making my hair billow out behind me. "You must be sixteen, am I right?"

"I was seventeen when I was changed." She nodded as her lips clamped themselves together.

"Last night we were talking, as a family, about your situation. We know you have nowhere to go, now, so we were wondering if you would prefer to stay with us for a while instead of roaming America for protection. We can't let you stay in danger, I know we've only just met but we would relax easier if you accepted our offer."

"I would, I mean, are you sure? I do not want to cause you any trouble."

"Absolutely sure."

The clearing came into sight as we stopped, she pulled my into the tightest hug I've ever had, excluding Jacob – who had surprisingly not turned up to stalk Renesmee around yet.

"Thank you so much" She dropped her arms, beaming a smile that reached from one ear to the other.

"Umm, this way Aymie." I whispered, recovering. I led the way into the largest compartment. Alice was sat reading on one of the tasselled pillows, while Renesmee slept, covered by a large blanket. She was shivering, her hair slightly wet and her limbs spread out clumsily over the groundsheet and woven blankets.

"Bella!" Alice shouted, turning to Renesmee, "Oops."

"Hey, the rest are still back getting grizzlies. Well apart from one." I stepped aside letting Aymie scramble through the opening.

"Hi, Alice right?" She smiled again.

"That is me, impossible to forget of course." Alice stated proudly with a smirk. "So you're staying with us for a while then?"

"She is yes," I interrupted impatiently. "Has Renesmee woken at all Alice?"

"Once," Alice stood up, re-enacting what she told me like some sort of play, "She started to run, got as far as the trees out there before I grabbed her arm. All she said was she thought it was you or Edward, and then passed out _again _into my arms_. _I'll tell you Bella; she looked absolutely awful, like she was really ill or something. It was weird, how she acted, like something was wrong."

"She's been having nightmares, about the Volturi we think..." I trailed of while I thought about what she had just said. "Why would she run if Edward or I was here?" I asked.

Aymie was staring intently at Renesmee's face, which was totally blank with sleep.

"Afraid of getting told off, she did the one thing you told her never to do in her life. Run away from you." She smiled, "She's still a child after all!" Alice whispered.

I took a short breath before I spoke but Aymie beat me to it.

"How old is she?" Aymie murmured, still staring at her face as if it was an exhibition in a museum.

"Four." I caught the sight of Aymie's face through the corner of my eye, "I'm her biological mum, and Edward is her biological dad. I had Renesmee when I was still human, and I came so close to death that day you wouldn't believe. Edward saved me with his venom, and now I have the most amazing life I could ever ask for. Renesmee's heart beats strongly and blood still flows through her veins but she has vampire factors too, like speed, feeding on blood and her own talent, transmitting her thoughts through a single touch."

That was a summary and a half.

"Right, I think that's enough to take in." Aymie whispered, smiling. We sat down on the pillows next to Alice. "I've never seen anything like her."

It made me happy for some reason, to know that I had produced something totally unique and beautifully special from my boring old body.

"Neither had any of us, until I became pregnant with her on our honeymoon."

That was a moment to be forgotten, I'd only just found out about this new life that I was bringing to this world, and Edward was so determined to eliminate it as soon as possible. I knew that it was for my safety but I couldn't bear to think of what would happen if I had let him, let him kill her before she'd even had a chance to take a single breath. I needed to change the subject.

"Alice, how do you fancy taking us girls on a shopping trip? Aymie is in desperate need of clothes and my closet is running low on supplies too." I said.

Alice sprung up from where she was standing.

"Is that a trick question?" Her teeth flashed blindingly, "You know what I think, I reckon we should go full scale, a holiday for all of us. I could find a secluded bay somewhere exotic and before that we could go shopping in New York. I hear that's the best place to go! And you do _need _me to top up your closet; it's a matter of living and dying."

I smiled; no doubt she had been waiting for ages for an opportunity like this. "Sounds like a plan and a half Alice!"


	4. Chapter 3

"Ten of us, yes, thank you." Alice sang into the receiver and then placed it gently into the empty stand. "That's settled then, New York on Friday and then a week in the Balearics. It's about time we could get some proper sun on our skin." She gestured outside where the diluted sunlight was grimly filtering in through a layer of thick, grey clouds.

"Perfect. And you're certain that it will be safe." I asked.

"You doubt me Bella?" Alice smiled. "No one's going to trespass on us, I promise you. The place we're going is totally private and exclusively booked for us. As long as you don't go parading right on top of the cliffs we'll be perfectly safe."

"Me!" I giggled.

"Better crack open your piggy bank Bella, if you're going to New York." Edward said, lifting me into the air to spin me around.

My wardrobe was running low, I wrecked most of my clothes hunting and the surviving clothes were not to my taste at all. Silks and satins that clung to my skin were not my favourite items to say the least, although they had started to grow on me, and Edward. Well, they had always been to _Edward's_ satisfaction. At least my fashion was in a better state than Aymie's. Most of her clothes were ruined on her journey to find us, but the fact that most of her clothes were black hooded cloaks didn't really help either. People would be slightly suspicious if she walked down the high street with her velvet cloak flowing behind her in the wind.

"No chance of a loan?" I whispered as Alice ran upstairs to organise her stash of clothes for the trip.

"How much do you want?" He asked, rolling his eyes like a dad did when their daughter asked for money immediately after they'd just had their allowance.

"Couple of thousand will do it." I winked at him as he gave me a disapproving look. "It is designer out there, and we're talking about shopping with your sister here. I'm bound to come back with at least _one or two_ whole shops! "

It had only been this morning when we'd got back from hunting and Renesmee had slept all the way through, ever since Alice had caught her from running into the trees. Carlisle's voice sounded from above us, he had been examining her while she slept, constantly checking her growth, heartbeat, temperature and checking in with Edward on her dreams and thoughts.

"Come on Nessie." Carlisle whispered as he swept down the open staircase. His stethoscope hung loosely around his neck and his arm was wrapped around Renesmee's shoulders, keeping her upright. Her face was even paler than ours.

"Don't know what's wrong with this one." He said, swinging Renesmee up into his open, cradled arms. He threw her softly into the air where Edward suddenly appeared. She turned her face away from his, braced for a scolding.

"Disturbed sleeper, as I said." Edward murmured, smiling his crooked smile again. He pressed his lips against her forehead. Then his face turned sour, "Don't you ever run off again, please."

"I don't know if I can make that a promise." She smiled, speaking in a croak.

"It better be." I walked over to brush her hair of her sweat covered cheek. "We're off to New York!"

"New York?" Her face lit up. "I've heard about New Y..."

She froze, her eyes widened to their limits before she spoke again.

"Aymie."

Renesmee stopped speaking, her face froze in realisation. Her deep eyes widened even further in horror.

"Aymie." She repeated.

"Renesmee?" Edward's grip tightened around her. Renesmee's expression was stuck somewhere between horror and confusion. "What about Aymie, do you want her?"

"Mom, I..." She stopped speaking again, this time her expression was pained; her mouth fell open before she could stop it.

Her body jumped suddenly like lightening had struck her. Edward's arms retracted immediately and she fell onto the sofa, still writhing, with her eyes rolling firmly shut. Her hands were pressed to either side of her head like you would when suffering a migraine – but this looked to be so much worse than a single migraine. Her expression looked more like she was suffering a million migraines all at the same time. Carlisle shot over to her, hand on her wrist.

"Renesmee? Can you hear me darling?" Edward screeched, crouching down next to Carlisle.

Her mouth dropped open to let out a tiny scream.

"Edward what is it?" Carlisle murmured, pressing his hands to her thumping shoulders.

Edward shook his head, staring down at her in desperation.

"I. Can't. Hear. I can't hear anything."

She stopped moving, lying as still as a log on the cushions.

"Carlisle?" Edward turned with his eyes wide to his father. I stood, completely motionless, behind them both. My body still, unaware to the events in front of me but my mind was pulsing, stretching to try and work out what was happening, it couldn't be happening. Edward took her face delicately in both of his hands, staring silently at her face. "Carlisle she isn't breathing."

"What!" I managed to force my arms and legs to move to the couch, then I froze again as I fell to my knees beside Carlisle. Edward's hands locked forcefully on her chest, pushing desperately up and down to restart her breathing. A snap sounded in the silence. Edward froze in horror, Carlisle froze in horror and I unfroze just like someone had pressed fast forward on a DVD.

"No, no, no!" I shouted now, almost knocking Carlisle over as I pushed forward, placing my hands on her stomach. As I pulled back Renesmee's thin cotton top, thin streams of purple were trickling down her skin and it was only after a couple of seconds that I realised the strange liquid wasn't on the outside. It was blood, discoloured by the filter of her skin. Above the absurd swirling pattern was a sharp point sticking out of her body like a thorn on a stem but the skin had not broken one bit to make way for this new object attempting to pierce its way through the surface that was unbreakable by everything apart from vampire teeth and nails amongst other supernatural horrors. Then I realised that what I saw was the ghostly white of her bone and deathly red of her blood side by side. Edward stood up, staring blankly down at her still body. He shot upstairs instantly. I pressed my mouth to her ear.

"Don't you dare do this to me." I hissed. "Don't you even dare!"

Edward appeared by my side again, handing a roll of bandages, straps and fastenings to Carlisle. He took my hand in his tightly as he looked down again at what he had done, his black eyes were wide and mouth was hanging open. Seeing him look that sad made me want to take him into my arms and protect him from his guilt because I knew that was one of the few things that hurt him the most. Carlisle tied a thick strap around Renesmee's body, just under her remaining ribs. Edward took her blank face back into his shaking hands, more firmly this time.

"Please." He whispered.

Renesmee's chest expanded sharply as she took in a breath. A cascade of blood flooded out of her mouth. Every breath she took brought a loud, choked sound. I nearly choked myself.

Her eyes flickered open. Colour flushed instantly back into her cheeks. She glanced automatically down the source of her agony.

"What did I fall on, when I passed out?" She croaked, wincing at the pain and then letting out a shriek as her skin stretched uncomfortably over the broken bone.

"What do you mean?" I whispered in disbelieve.

Edward dropped his hands from her face and grasped her clammy fingers.

"You, don't remember." He whispered, brushing her hair from her cheek again.

"I passed out; please don't give me a lecture on running off dad, I don't know what happened." She winced again at the pain. "I just needed to run from that place..."

"Darling, you've woken up, you've spoken to us already." I whispered.

"Bella, she doesn't remember at all." Edward let go of her hand.

"Remember what?" Renesmee asked as she sat up suddenly, another cascade of blood flew from her mouth soaking the ivory rug.

She let out another scream as her skin pulled tightly against the cracked rib.

"You can't move sweetie, you're dad broke one of your ribs with his CPR." I leant over her, pulling her hair from the small pool of blood beside her mouth.

"Well done." She said sarcastically, managing a quick smile before it fell into grimace again.

"First aid never really was my personal strong point." Edward said, he stood up to let Carlisle clean the wound, forehead creased in concern.

"You did alright with me." I whispered, standing up to let Carlisle do his work and running my hands up and down my body to physically prove my point.

"I suppose..." He answered with no enthusiasm or relief reaching his voice whatsoever.

"If you don't remember, we're going to New York on Friday!"

"New York! I've heard about there." She continued to mutter, exclaiming about the big lights and skyscrapers she'd heard of on the television.

I smiled to Edward at the repetition. He didn't return it; instead he shook his head as he glanced down at her pained expression again and paced fluidly out of the room. Of course he would blame himself for the pain she was feeling, though this time it was his fault – even I couldn't deny that. I turned to follow him out into the mass of towering trees but my mind was so full of misted confusion that I couldn't move for a couple of seconds. Renesmee truly had forgotten about earlier, that wasn't normal to say the least. Something was coming, I knew it.

The inky, velvet sky was dusted with twinkling stars, diamonds in the depth of darkness. Jake stayed nearly all day, every day at our house. Whenever Nessie was in, the stench of wolf was sure to be around somewhere close. The pair of them were usually inseparable, right up until the very moment she fell asleep. That was our limit, or more Rosalie and Edward's limit. The second her eyes shut and her head hit the pillow; Jacob's welcome was over for another day. It was such a short time, to us of course, without him pestering around the house. Jacob is my best friend, but when your best friend was tied unconditionally to your only daughter from the moment she first saw the world, that relationship tends to get just a bit tighter. So much so that sometimes it almost snapped.

I sat with my legs hitched up around Edward's waist and my fingers intertwined with his; the swing-seat we sat on was rocking back and forth gently in the cool breeze. Below us beside the stream, Jacob sat crossed legged between the grasses with Renesmee sat directly opposite, close, too close perhaps?

He shot out his arm towards her body which she ducked out of the way of instantly with a high pitched giggle.

"Are you off to bed now?" I murmured impatiently. How much was it to ask for some peace and quiet around here to ourselves. Edward chuckled, extremely amused at my attitude.

"Fine." She sighed and brushed the flowers out of the way as she rose. "I'll just go get changed."

Jake started to drift behind her as she headed towards the porch. Inevitably wanting a glimpse of something I wouldn't allow him to see until she was much, much older. Not until she was ready for that kind of love. I was fine with the stage he'd restricted himself to at the moment. They were best friends of the closest kind and it made me almost ecstatic to see how happy he made her. The grin that flushed onto her face every morning when she flung open the curtains to find Jacob standing below the trees in our garden was a priceless gift. True love was something I didn't believe her to be ready for yet. Therefore there was a couple of things I'd had to get absolutely straight with Jake, a conversation during which I felt like a member of the Volturi – enforcing the law to make everyone miserable but what I did, had to be done to protect my daughter from something she was too young for.

Edward's mouth twitched. "Forget it Jacob. You seriously can't have thought that we would let you do that."

He started to reverse, walking slowly backwards until he came to a halt beside the willow trees that bent themselves over the weaving curls of water that flowed past as slowly as a snail. I gawked silently as my husband stole my heart with his gaze and hoped with all I had that however often those eyes looked into mine, I would find them just as amazing every time.

"Done." Renesmee called down from one of the open windows on the fourth floor. I caught Jacob springing up the wall to her room in the corner of my eye. Time passed silently, only the trickle of the glassy water and the chirruping of insects and birds reached my ears. I lunged towards Edward, pushing him off the swing seat into the grass.

"Oh no," Edward hissed, swinging me up to standing. "Don't you dare."

Dare what? I thought we'd stopped being careful about this sort of stuff. Now I had lost my human fragility there was no need for any more stupid 'precautions'. Edward caught a glimpse of my anxious expression.

"Not you Bella, him." His gaze flickered up towards the window of Renesmee's bedroom. Taking my waist, he ran effortlessly up the stone wall and clung onto the wooden sill of her window. I raised my eye line above the wood, glancing through her window. She was sat crossed legged again, so close that her legs were pressed right up against Jacob's.

"I think it's time I told you something Nessie." Jake rocked backwards on her bed, running his massive hand down her forearm. His face was no longer smiling, but deadly serious. "Ever since you were born, I've had an attraction to you. Ever since I first caught a sight of your face I knew that I would never want to be with anyone else never again."

"I – I don't understand." She spluttered.

"Renesmee, I love you more than anything else in the whole entire universe. You are the centre of my life now, you always have been. Maybe in a different way to now, but I know that I can tell you the truth about my feelings now. I am deeply in love with you Renesmee."

Her already hammering heart skipped a beat, and then accelerated even faster. She stifled some sort of sound, possibly a scream of delight so it came out as a small, twisted squeak before she clambered up to sit on top of his muscled chest.

"You're in love with me?"

He lifted his hand to rest it behind her neck. "Much more than love, you don't understand how much I want you. I need you."

She closed her eyes, taking three deep breaths quickly then opening them again. Her mouth was open on the verge of speech but no words came out, instead she lurched towards him so that her lips were millimetres from his when my patience slipped.

"Renesmee!" I blurted, very nearly losing my grip on the sill. Edward's left hand was already around my waist in case I had slipped and fallen towards the thorny bushes below.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of my voice and toppled off Jacob's laughing body onto the mattress they lay on, putting one hand either side of her face.

"Eavesdropping." Jacob mocked. "Very sly."

"Nessie, you're four!"

"_Teen_."

"Oh." I smiled sarcastically at the irony. "So _now_ you want to be classed as a teenager, do you?" Slower than a fourteen year old didn't exactly have the same ring to it as what she preferred to taunt her father with.

Jacob sat up behind Renesmee, grinning as he wrapped his arm tightly around her waist. "I thought you said age was just a number, Bells. Or is this a 'different circumstance' yet again?"

Why did everyone have to pick holes in everything I said? True, I had mentioned that once apon a time, but when your four year old daughter was already falling seriously in love with someone at least twelve years older than her, I think there must be some sort of exception!

"Oh, shut up Jake!"

He sank back behind her to lay flat on the eiderdowns with the childish smirk still covering his face. How much I craved to slap him right now. Now that I had the ability of doing so _without_ severely spraining my hand and actually cause him some pain, the idea was quite tempting.

"We're just _good _friends." She bit her lip. "Honestly."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, of course you are. Five minutes then he's out, we'll talk to _you_ in the morning Renesmee."

"And don't think you're coming back here any time soon Jacob Black." Edward hissed, his voice hard and sharp. "Five minutes."


	5. Chapter 4

I pulled my last suitcase into the hall and dropped it onto the towering pile by the door.

"We're going to take up the whole hold at this rate!" Esme exclaimed as Rosalie added two more loaded cases. "How much do we even need, it's only a week?"

"I booked three bags a person; it's not like breaking the law Esme." Alice danced across the hallway, flicking through the ten passports in her hands. "Are we ready yet? The flight is in four hours!"

"Calm down Alice." Jasper said, concentrating his power on his rather unbelievable soul mate. "Four hours."

"That isn't helpful Jasper, we can't miss this flight. Then we would miss our connection and then everything would be ruined." Alice paced back and forth waiting for Edward while Jasper rolled his eyes at her. Emmett sloped in again, scooping up another three bags for the taxi.

"Why is he taking so long?" Rosalie hissed.

"Speak of the little devil." Emmett murmured, as he disappeared into the dark again. Many nicknames had emerged from different members of the family for my daughter. Little monster, little devil, and many more Emmett had created much to Renesmee's annoyance.

Edward appeared at the top of the stairs, a sleeping daughter nestled in his arms. Aymie walked behind them, carrying two bulking holdalls in her arms. They looked so full that I feared the zip would fly off at any second releasing what must be her whole wardrobe out onto the floor.

"Finally." I said. Turning to head towards the door as Edward came to my side.

"She hadn't packed - at all." Aymie whispered, grinning as she chucked the holdalls into my arms.

Aymie and Renesmee had become strong friends in the last week, not held back by age difference at all. It was not like the friendship Jacob used to have with Nessie, Aymie did not do everything to please her, instead they just seemed to have a natural bond, sometimes it seemed to me that Renesmee looked up to Aymie. Sometimes, I was surprised they weren't biological sisters the way they acted around each other. Carlisle had not figured out what caused the fright on Monday and it had not happened since. At the moment, the most convincing theory we'd come up with was shock or growth problems._ I_ still wasn't convinced at all.

"Edward, Bella, Nessie, and Aymie in that one." Carlisle said, waving us towards the large black taxi pulled up on the drive. We headed over, taking care to cross the gravel drive at a normal human pace through the darkness, to the open car doors.

Edward climbed inside the back, supporting Renesmee's sleeping body perfectly. "Just to Vancouver airport please."

I wedged the last rounded holdall into the boot and pressed the door down lightly, it closed with a sharp slam. Edward groaned at the loudness of my actions as I took my place next to him, ignoring his reaction completely.

"What are you boys doing while we're shopping?" I asked in a light tone, fastening my belt humanly as the car's engine started.

"Carlisle hears there are some excellent museums around the city." He smiled at my expression of disbelief.

"We're going to New York, possibly one of the greatest cities in the entire world and you want to look at museums?" I lent my head on his shoulder, watching the flickering lights flash past the window. "That's so typical."

"Well, we can't go parading around in the sun Bella, especially not with our reputation with the Volturi. If they don't usually offer second chances, I dread to think what they would do to us."

That was true; we would have to stay inside when the sun shone or face another lovely 'meeting' with the lawmakers. Edward's hand rested on my forehead as I closed my eyes, listening only to the slow breathing of my daughter. I felt Edward slip something into my pocket which I pulled straight back out. It was a small, maroon, leather purse.

"Edward, you..." I started but his finger pressed to my lips before I could ramble on any further.

"It's a couple of thousand like you asked."

I pushed his hand away. "I was joking Edward."

"Do you really think I care if you were joking or not?"

He lifted Renesmee off his lap, laying her on the far seat and replaced his finger tips with his lips. There was no doubt that the driver was watching but didn't bother me at all anymore, the whole world could be watching and it would never hold us back. I prised his lips apart with mine; his cold breath filled my mouth, soothing the slight burn at the back of my throat instantly. He wrapped his arm around my waist like usual, pulling his lips away so our foreheads pressed together.

"Bella." Aymie spoke with horror in her voice.

I turned my head to see Renesmee, eyes open, staring straight at Aymie in a hunting crouch on the car seat. She looked like someone full of pure hate, someone who could leap into a fight at any second.

"Nessie?" Edward let go off my waist and slid along the seat closer to Renesmee.

Her body jumped, her head slamming against the plastic armrest.

"Is everything alright back there?" The driver would think she was having a fit or something if he saw. I kicked Aymie's foot with mine while raising my left eyebrow towards the plastic screen separating us and him. Luckily, she got the hint quickly. She turned reluctantly to kneel on her seat, face pressed against the plastic.

"Yes thank you, every things fine. You don't happen to know some good hotels in New York do you?" Aymie kept the driver talking, a constant drone in the background while we fought to control our daughter.

"Renesmee, please." Edward whispered, his hand clamped on her mouth to muffle her screams. Her limbs flailed wildly around, constantly knocking Edward backwards into his seat.

"Bella, a little help love." Edward pulled one of his hands away, shaking it. I saw a set of indents where Renesmee had tried to bite into the rock hard skin.

I grasped her legs with one of my hands, pinning them forcefully to the slippery black leather.

"Can we not have any stupid CPR today, please." I whispered in Edward's ear. Aymie was still chatting, blocking the driver's view of us.

"I won't be able to anyway, not if she keeps trying to bite my hand off."

I would have laughed but this was no laughing matter, not when we had no idea what was going on and our daughter's heart could stop beating again at any second. Her nails dragged down her arm, engraving a deep red scratch down the pale skin.

"Oh god." Edward hissed. "Stop it Renesmee."

"Why is she writhing?" I asked, clutching her right hand down to the leather with mine.

"She's in a tremendous amount of pain, I can't see why or what she was thinking before. Absolutely nothing." Edward winced as her teeth had another attempt to penetrate his skin. Renesmee's body jumped again, like lightening striking the same place twice, then lay still on the far seat.

"Now what?" I whispered.

Edward lifted her limp body to rest her head on his knees and her legs on mine. His silver cell phone already pressed to his ear, held firmly in place by his shoulder.

"It's happened again. No. Do we wait?" He was obviously receiving speedily muttered instructions from Carlisle. "Lightly? Fine, I'll try." He shut the cell quickly and threw it onto Aymie's lap.

"You're not doing CPR again, not here." I hissed.

"Bella, love. She's not breathing, what else is there to do." I stared into his eyes. Our gazes were locked; I was entranced by the light dancing around his stony pupils.

"Are we there yet?" I looked down at Renesmee's chest as it heaved gently up and down, her eyes sliding open. She glanced at our blank expressions. "What?"

"You are unbelievable." I whispered. "Too unbelievable."

Edward shuffled along to the far seat, sitting Renesmee between us. He pulled the seat belt over her quickly as he sent a stony glare out the window as if the attacker was lurking somewhere in the darkness.

"Why am I unbelievable, what did I do?" Her eyes flickered between me and Edward.

"It happened again." Edward's face was stern; he grabbed her arm and nearly tore off the sleeve of her denim shirt as he pulled it back. She took one glimpse at the jagged scars, still dribbling blood. Edward slid his mouth down her arm, closing the cuts as best he could with his lips and tongue.

"What happened again?"

He pressed her head to his lap again, wrapping his arm around me protectively.

"Do you think I'd be sat in here doing nothing if I knew?" Edward snarled in anger.

Not at his daughter but at the things that tormented him, not knowing who was harming Renesmee and not being able to do anything to stop it, or them. His eyes were locked on her face, her chest and her arm where the remains of the scratch still trickled dregs of blood.

Edward was silent all the way through our flight to New York. Worrying, pondering and being the overprotective angel he was. He had his arm fixed around my hips, his fingers fixed on my face, his leg fixed in its twisted position around mine but his eyes fixed beyond me, fixed solidly and exclusively on Renesmee.


	6. Chapter 5

"I love that one." Alice grinned as I twirled in front of the full length mirror. The light, silky material flowed out from my waist like a flowing spiral of fire as I spun around and then hung brilliantly below my knees as I came to a halt.

"For once Alice, I totally agree with you." I turned my head to face behind me. "Renesmee?"

Renesmee pulled back the curtain of her booth, stepping out in a small, cotton, floral dress. The skirt fell above her knees perfectly and the bodice framed her figure elegantly.

"I love them." Alice stated, admiring her own skin tight aqua evening dress.

"I love them." I said.

"That makes three then."

I nearly tripped over my own feet at the voice I knew so well. I spun round and ran over to the doorway.

"You're not meant to be here." I whispered, placing my hands on his shoulders to push him out of the changing rooms.

"Well, I'm not so interested in exploring floodlit baseball and football stadiums." He smiled at my feeble attempt to move him away. "Emmett keeps spotting players and runs off for an autograph. It's so pathetic."

Rosalie snorted a burst of laughter from inside her changing cubicle.

"This is a girl's day Edward; I don't want you to see me trying everything on." I whispered.

"I don't see why not."

I didn't have a good enough reason to argue either; it wasn't like I was trying on a wedding dress, thank god for that but when he saw my outfits each day, it pleased him. So maybe he would be even happier if he hadn't seen them before. Or maybe, I was a total idiot.

"Have you been following us around?"  
"For a while," He admitted.

"Edward." I frowned and then batted my eyelids at him innocently to get my way.

"Alright, alright, I'll go." He held up his hands in surrender, peering around my shoulder, "Need a top up Nessie?"

"I'm good dad." She grinned, dancing back behind the heavy, khaki coloured curtain. "You did give me four thousand pounds!"

"Out." I demanded, giving him a quick peck on the neck and then on his cool lips.

I'd tried on satins, silks, cottons, velvets, denims; in fact, I don't think there could be anything I couldn't have tried on. My ruffled hair stuck out at odd places from all the taking off and putting on. We had called Jasper three times to come and collect our bags in the car he had _borrowed_ from a car park in a nearby department store , at this rate, Esme was right; we _would_ take up the whole hold, and the whole of the rest of the aeroplane too, leaving no space for any passengers what so ever.

"Are we done now?" I asked, "It's been really great Alice, but Renesmee's feet are actually going to drop off in a minute."

I turned my head to the side to indicate where Renesmee sat clutching both of her shoeless feet in her hands. Alice tapped in her pin in and pulled out her gold card.

"We are now."

The streets were illuminated with breathtaking lights and adverts on the towering buildings and skyscrapers above. Esme linked arms with Alice, who linked arms with me. I clutched Renesmee's hand as she showed me her excitement through the colourful and unbelievably bright images she was flicking through my mind. She linked arms with Aymie and Aymie linked her other arm with Rose. The amount of stares we received was astonishing; five years ago I wouldn't have got even a second look off anyone. Alice pushed through the revolving door of our five star hotel.

"Night Rose, night Esme, night Aymie." I called, as they turned off down the corridor to the suites where Carlisle and Emmett would be waiting.

"Goodnight Bella, night Alice." They chorused. "Goodnight Nessie."

I couldn't help smiling as we swept up the silver plated staircase, carrying the last of our shopping bags that Jasper had left us with in our arms.

"Night Bella. Night Nessie." Alice pulled us both into a tight hug.

"You've ever so slightly convinced me that shopping can be fun Alice." I said, as she turned to enter her suite. "Ever so slightly."

"Rightly so." Alice waved as she disappeared behind the large oak door.

I slipped the card into the door slot and headed inside, still clutching Renesmee's hand. Edward sat crossed legged on the centre of the bed, his new leather jacket slung across the satin pillows that were leant against the sapphire coloured headboard.

"Evening."

"Sorry we're so late." I threw my bag onto the floor, swinging Nessie onto the satin covers next to Edward. "Your sister insisted that we..."

"I'm not bothered in the slightest about the time." He spoke, his voice as velvety as the smoothest chocolate.

I blinked twice as a useless attempt at clearing my head to speak. "Well that's alright then."

I climbed up onto the bed, laying my head on the pillow where Edward's jacket was. I breathed in the heavenly scent, satisfying my addiction. He rested his head next to mine, sliding his hand up my spine to settle it on the back of my neck.

"Is someone tampering then, with Renesmee?" I whispered.

"Carlisle thinks not, I disagree." Edward sighed. "Can we not talk about this right now, we are in fact on our holiday and I'd rather we spent our time doing something a little more ... perfect."

"Suit yourself." I whispered, still in a concussion of awe.

He pushed himself onto my body, one arm still behind my neck and the other pushing my hair out of my face. I closed my eyes, pressing my hands to the back of his head as his lips closed around mine.

"Right, that's it. I'm sleeping in the bath." Renesmee stated, yanking the woollen blanket off the bottom of the bed and stalking into the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind her. I pulled away gently as Edward laughed.

"What?" I asked, smiling too.

"Umm," He shook his head, flashing his blindingly white teeth at me. "There isn't a bath, in there. It isn't even a bathroom, it's the balcony."

The door swung open again, Renesmee stormed through with a thunderous expression clouding her face. She locked her teeth together, shooting a threatening stare at both of us and tripped out of our room, dragging the blanket behind her along the carpet. The door slammed shut as she exited making Edward chuckle louder.

"Edward, don't." I pressed my head against his again grinning, cheek on cheek. "Where has she gone?"

"Carlisle and Esme's suite. I don't think she understands that our passion doesn't ease with age."

"Oh..." I pulled my leg up around his waist. "Has she - gone in?"

"No, she heard me." He rolled me carefully onto my back to pull himself up from the covers. The corners of his mouth turned up in amusement. "Go get changed, love. I don't want to ruin that dress; you look even more stunning in it."

"What do you want to ruin then?" I smiled, walking swiftly over to my suede bag that was set on a leather stool beside a silver plated figurine.

"Nothing."

Edward walked over to the door and slid the card smoothly through the slot. He pulled it open and stepped briskly outside into the corridor. It took me a while to figure out what he actually meant by his last comment of 'nothing'. His voice drifted in from outside.

"You can't sleep in the corridor Nessie."

Renesmee reappeared in the doorway, Edward following immediately behind pressing his hands into the small of her back. He slipped the entrance card into his pocket, just like he was holding her hostage, a helpless prisoner while we had all the fun. She took one look at the silk lingerie that lay at the top my bag.

"Eurgh, I'll just have to stick the balcony floor then won't I?" She ran straight through the doors she'd gone through before, both hands over her eyes. The latch clicked shut.

I turned to face the wall, slipping my cotton dress off onto the floor and stepping carefully into one of the silk sets, if you could call it a piece of clothing at all, which had featured my original closet.

"Okay, I'm done."

Edward sat, in the same position as when we first entered. His shirt was in a crumpled pile on the floor. His eyelids opened slowly revealing the liquid gold underneath. I jumped onto him, wrapping my arms around his neck like a constrictor.

"We're absolutely fine, thank you." Edward said, reassuring the rather confused air hostess. The ten of us had not ordered any food or drink throughout the whole of the eight hour flight. Renesmee had her face leant against the ice cool glass of the plane window, staring in amazement as we cruised over the cotton wool clouds below. The turquoise cable from Aymie's music player hung through the gap in their seats, one earphone plugged into Aymie's ear, the other in Nessie's. I doubted very much that she was actually listening to whatever was playing; all her focus was placed on tracing the uneven outline of the delicate clouds with her eyes. Across the aisle from the three of us, sat Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle's glasses were placed precariously on the tip of his nose as he scanned through a page of his large novel, his right hand was holding Esme's while she watched him adoringly. To the right of them, Alice and Jasper were sat smirking at the anxious stares from the hostess as they refused her offer of free refreshments again and again. Aymie sat directly behind Renesmee beside another keyhole window with Rosalie beside her. Rosalie's fingers weaved easily in and out of Aymie's hair as she plaited it gently. Emmett sat next to the aisle, his concentration deep into his American Football magazine.

"Where are we over now?" Renesmee asked, pulling her gaze from the window to face Edward.

He turned his head to face towards the front of the plane where the pilot sat, totally oblivious to the fact that he had nine vampires, and one half vampire riding in his aeroplane.

"Ten miles off the coast of Spain, not long at all now."

She grinned and pressed her face harder against the glass, her eyes straining on the horizon to spot the first sight of land. I reached into my bag to retrieve my silk scarf and sunglasses. Edward took them from my hands gently as soon as they appeared above the zip.

"I bet you can't wait to feel the sun on your skin." I whispered.

His hands tucked my hair behind my ears as he draped the crimson scarf over my hair, dropping the end over my shoulder reluctantly.

"As long as I'm with you now I can wait for anything."

"Of course you can."

He flicked the sunglasses open and placed them over my eyes but as soon as the middle touched my nose he frowned and pushed them up onto my forehead.

"They cover your eyes." He whispered.

"That is the general idea of sunglasses." I replied, fastening my seatbelt obediently as the lights flickered on.

"You know what I mean."

He got used to my eyes being amber when I first changed, so now when my eyes were back to their chocolate brown, he couldn't get enough of them. I still didn't understand why he hadn't got bored of them yet, they were just a pair of eyes, normal eyes. However, saying that makes me extremely hypocritical.

A voice projected out of the speakers that surrounded the seats informing us of the approaching landing and ordering the roaming members of the crew to resume their positions in their seats.

"I can see it! Majorca!" Renesmee jumped slightly in her seat, restrained by the fastened belt.

Edward chuckled, slipping his arm underneath mine to clutch my waist.

"Sit still Nessie, we're landing." I nudged her lightly with my elbow.

Gradually the tip of the plane tilted towards the rocky landscape below, gliding closer and closer to the floor each second. After a couple of minutes the plane thudded to the ground on a stretching runway. I yanked Edward's shades out of the bag and pushed them hesitantly over his eyes. As soon as the pearl blue lights disappeared, Renesmee tore off her belt and climbed over me and Edward, eager to be first to the door.

"I bet that air hostess would believe her if we told her she was four." I said, standing up slowly as my seatbelt snapped back into its holder.

"That air hostess doesn't believe we're her legal guardians. More like her brother and sister." Edward replied, taking my hand into his.

"It will be like she's our sister soon though, in a couple of years." I whispered.

It was true. One of the friends of Carlisle who came to support us, Nahuel, had been a half vampire too. He had informed us that when Renesmee stops growing after only seven years of childhood, she will look the age of eighteen and will stay looking that way forever. Although she will look and possibly act like she's eighteen, she had to still be my little girl inside. She had to be.

"On the outside." Edward said.

The air hostess pushed the door out into the air, stepping carefully onto the waiting platform connected to a set of stairs. Renesmee danced outside, running quickly down the steps and out onto the dusty tarmac of the runway.

"It's so warm!" She shouted from below, spinning round to take everything in.

I smiled at Edward, stretching my hands in the leather gloves that clung tightly to them. The air hostess smiled quickly as we left the plane. I was sure that I saw her take a slight step back, intimidated perhaps by our extremely gothic appearance.

I ran the sand through my fingers, making a modest heap on my towel. My skin glistened like a thousand diamonds in the sunlight and the sound of the waves lapping on the sand caressed my ears like silk. Alice lay next to me in a scarlet bikini and pitch black shades. Her mouth was turned up into a perfect smirk as she heard the voices from in front of us.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you drown?"

I pressed my elbow into the sand, pushing my shoulders off the ground to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

"I can't hold my breath for as long as you!"

I opened my eyes, adjusting them to the glimmering sunlight. Edward's arms were wrapped tightly around Renesmee's waist, her legs lifted off the sand as they swung around, trying desperately to knock away the perfect body she was pressed too.

"You don't have to dive; you can stay at the surface." He laughed and tightened his grip on her, running one hand over her hair.

Edward stepped into the water, walking forward until the waves lapped and broke around his waist.

"It's too deep. Dad, I will drown."

Renesmee jabbed her elbow into his chest, her legs lifted above the surface.

His expression dropped, he lifted her up to hold her in front of his face. "I wouldn't ever let something like that happen to you Nessie."

"Get off me, get me out!"

"I really don't see what you're objection to water is." Edward grinned again, the water now right up to his chest. "But if you want me to let go and get off."

He lifted Renesmee above his head, her hair brushing his as he threw her lightly into the turquoise water.

"Edward!" I sighed in disapproval, raising myself from the towel. I held out my hand to Alice who took it instantly, rising to her feet. We ran giggling into the inviting water; the sand slipped through my toes smoothly as I ran. Renesmee's face emerged from the soft, curling waves.

"I can't do it!" She spluttered and disappeared again.

Edward stepped forward, parting the water with ease and scooped her out above the surface, resting her head on his broad shoulder as she coughed out the water.

"Maybe you're not a natural, all vampires are." He pressed her chest towards his as he turned towards me, grinning.

I gave him a stern look but that couldn't hold for long, my face broke into a smile in less than a second.

"Well, I'm not a vampire and I'm not a natural, am I?"

"You most certainly are not." He whispered. "You're something so much more special Renesmee."

I stepped forward, "You got that right, and you make us look seriously boring!"

She pushed herself away from his chest, lowering her body cautiously below the surface into Alice's waiting arms. "It can't be that hard, it just doesn't help when you're _forced_."

"I'll help you Renesmee. He's such a rubbish teacher." Alice whispered, taking her hands. "Not to mention his patience with you."

My gaze locked on Edward's, his hair was darker than usual, flattened by the water. I grinned and sent a ball of water at his face. Normally, he would have moved out the way before it hit, but his absorption in my eyes caused the water to hit him flat on in the face.

His mouth dropped open, the corners still turned up into a smile. He brushed his hair back with one hand and blinked.

"You'll regret that Mrs Cullen."

Edward spun around, hands spread flat across the rippling water, sending a colossal wall of water at my face. I let it hit me straight in the face, but of course, I _could_ have avoided it. He grinned at his success like a child would. I felt like I had released him so much. Brought out his true side, his true soul that had been hidden away under the disguise he insisted on wearing on the outside, the disguise that hid the real him away from the world.

"Not if you regret that first." I jumped onto his back, submerging us both under the crystal clear water.

My dress flickered around my knees in the evening breeze. The water lapped silently around my ankles as I dipped my feet into the warm water. Renesmee sat on the sand with both legs crossed and her hair, wild from the sea water, draped down her back. Her sketch pad opened at the first page and the chalk stroking over the paper constantly as she sketched the jagged rocks that towered behind us, shadowing the tiny bay.

Edward and I were two sides of an extraordinary clam, bonded forever and never separated and when we were, both pieces would shatter into a thousand pieces, no longer able to be, to exist at all in this world. Renesmee was our delicate pearl inside, one of a kind, incredibly special and something that we would always protect with our lives. She was ours, and no one could ever, ever, ever take her away from us.

"Are you dry yet?" Edward whispered, pressing his mouth to my neck.

I turned my head so my wet hair brushed his cheek.

"Sorry, love."

"I suppose I might be able to forgive you one day."

I clasped my hands around his face and pressed my forehead against his cool, satin soft skin. When I looked into his eyes, they melted my heart. So easily too, it was like my heart was made of chocolate, chocolate that had already been warmed so much it melted into liquid instantly at one sight of him, it was the most extraordinary feeling in the entire world.

"Hold that." Renesmee exclaimed.

Edward smiled, still gazing into my eyes and keeping as still as a statue.

"Do you have to draw us for your project?"

"Yes! It's absolutely perfect. Oh, and hold that smile dad."

Edward froze. I froze. Time froze.

What had I done, in my life before, to deserve something as unbelievable as this? A perfect family, love that no one else could possibly feel as deeply as I did, a husband words cannot even begin to describe, being able to protect the ones I loved from haunting dangers, total immortality and having all that forever. There had been nothing special about me before I'd met any of the extraordinary people that changed my life into something straight out of a story book. I didn't understand why it was _me_ that had ended up right here right now, behind the stunning person Edward had turned me into, I was just a nobody. If he could hear any of what I was thinking he'd be so mad, just as he always was when I thought of myself like this – although every time he insisted that it was not me he was angry with. What I didn't get was who else was there to be frustrated at?

I jumped at the next sound of a voice. Edward let out a muffled chuckle and turned his deep expression into a light grin.

"Nessie, there's something really beautiful that you just _have_ to see." Aymie ran over, holding out her slender hand.

"Sure." She straightened up, throwing the small sketch book into my lap. "I'll race you! Where is it?"

Aymie giggled, "By the olive grove. Up on the cliff, come on or they'll be gone when we get there." "Trust me, you'll love them Nessie." Edward whispered.

I pressed my hand to his chest. "Didn't you tell me once to never trust vampires?"

Renesmee launched off into the trees, Aymie swept behind her leaving a haze a dust in the air. Edward slipped his gaze down to her drawing smiling, admiring it silently for about a minute before he spoke.

"She's some artist."

I took the pad from his hands, breathing in quickly as my heart and mind solidified again now his eyes had stopped penetrating them both.

"Do you think she'll notice if we keep it and frame it?" I whispered. "It's so real. So, I don't know. I just need to keep it."

"Probably, but she can copy it if she really wants to send it into school." He knocked the pad out of my hands onto the fine sand below us, it bounced quickly and settled with the picture face up towards us. "You're just too perfect."

"We." I corrected.

He encircled my waist with his hands and lent backwards, toppling us both off the ledge of rocks and down onto the layer of soft sand that bordered the trickling, sapphire water of a little stream running down to the sea. I lay there in his arms for hours while a mixture of his tentative kisses, smooth strokes of my hair and the lapping sound of the waves breaking onto the beach lulled me into a misty feeling of calm – it felt like nothing else mattered in the whole entire world at that moment, apart from him.


	7. Chapter 6

"Morning honey." I pushed a bowl of cornflakes across the kitchen counter towards my daughter.

She looked at them in pure disgust. "I'm not eating them. They taste so incredibly bland; it's just like shovelling air down my throat."

I knew the feeling. I'd tasted some of my favourite human foods from before since the change, none of which bared any sort of attraction to my senses. As Edward had tried to explain to me before, the taste of so unappealing that it was like eating dirt, not to mention the sloppy texture of it all!

"You haven't been hunting for ages. I'm not having you attack someone out of pure thirst." I pushed the bowl further towards her body so much so that it nearly fell off the edge of the kitchen workbench.

"I'm not going near any humans; Aymie and I are going diving again near the wreck." She smiled.

There was no point arguing, I would only lose pathetically. Arguing had never exactly been my strong point, especially with my husband and daughter.

"Fine." I took the bowl from the counter before it fell off. "You can swim properly now then?"

"Of course I can." She gave me a quick hug before sprinting out of the doors, striped beach bag flung over her shoulder. "It seems that I am in fact a natural after all."

The door slammed shut behind her and I smiled as I ran through her words again in my head in the sort of tone that made me laugh.

"Where are we off today Mr?" I asked as I felt Edward's breath on the back of my neck.

"I was thinking the cove, just you and me."

"Perfect." I lent my head back onto his shoulder. I wasn't sure what my word had been describing. The bay, him or us.

My day was unbelievably blissful. The combination of gleaming sun, soft sand, lapping sea and my Edward created happiness in my heart that must be impossible to top. We walked hand in hand along the sandy path listening to the silence. I loved silence. It let your mind run over everything that the distracting noise prevented and it made everything triple in beauty. Amazing colours were shimmering in the afternoon sunlight from the flowers that followed the path through the trees. There were yellows as bright as the sun above, blues as strong as the ocean, pinks that looked as if they should be delectable sweets and greens more vivid than anything else around them.

I pushed open the door with my free hand and let my bag slide down to the floor. The villa was silent but Renesmee's sweet scent lingered in the air. I dropped my bikini onto the ivory coloured sofas.

"Is she at the beach?" I asked, pulling Edward across the room forcefully.

"I can't hear her."

Edward's face from a smile to a concerned expression as a door slammed shut upstairs. I squeezed his hand tighter and pulled him quickly up the spiral stairs of the villa to Renesmee's bedroom.

"Oh." I whispered.

The window was pulled wide open, the frayed curtains waving in the breeze. Renesmee's scent was still fresh in the air but she had left the room at least two minutes ago. Something about this wasn't right.

"She left a note." Edward murmured, stepping over to her bed in one stride and picking up the piece of folded paper. His fingers shook as he opened it. I shuffled to his side, scanning my eyes across the note that was addressed "Mom and Dad" in small, curly writing.

I'm so sorry.

I'm not coming back. I can't come back. You're in danger because of me and I can't face that.

I'm running straight to the Volturi now. They can have me by all means, but they can never have you. Please try and understand.

I'm the biggest mistake you have made. But I think you'll agree it was worth it for what we had and I will never ever, forget you.

You must know it's my life for nine. I can never stand back and watch them hurting you over me because I know that is coming.

It's impossible for me. This will always benefit all of you. Please trust me, if you still can after this.

They are not getting their way. I would never, ever please them. No matter how much they hurt me.

No matter how much they torture me. They won't get to push me around. I am still a Cullen.

And I will be forever. But for once, let somebody save your lives. Forget me. However hard that may be for you all.

There is one final thing that you have to try and please, please do for me.

Don't come after me.

I love you.

Renesmee,

I choked on my tongue as I read the last word. She can't have, she wouldn't do this to us, she wouldn't do this to herself.

"Are you two alright up there?" Esme shouted. I heard her delicate footsteps coming up the staircase as I stood, totally motionless in the middle of the room. She pressed the door open just as Edward's breathing started to race. "What's on earth is wrong, what's happened?" Esme fluttered over to my side, taking my limp hand from my side and squeezing it gently.

I managed to hold out the letter. She took it in her hands but my fingers would not let go so I still clutched the top corner awkwardly in my hand as she read. Her golden eyes flicked from side to side down the lines and with every word her eyes widened in horror a little more.

"Oh no, no she can't! They haven't!"

Edward stepped forward, slipping my feet from underneath me as I fell lifelessly into his solid arms. The expression on his face echoed both mine and Esme's. Unbelievable amounts of despair swimming round his tense eyes. He ran his fingers through my knotted hair and stepped outside into the hallway, scaling the curling staircase in less than a second.

"Carlisle, Renesmee has gone to the Volturi. She thinks it'll get _us _out of danger from them." Edward spoke, his voice shaking as much as his hands were trembling underneath me.

"She's done what?" Carlisle gasped, dropping the bags he'd been carrying onto the couch. All the laughs from the beach and constant teasing and jeering from Emmett had ceased leaving a momentous cloud of depression hovering in the room.

"She's gone." Edward summarised. They were the only words I needed to hear to push me down even further.

"Where has she even got the idea that they were still after us from?"Carlisle muttered. He had begun pacing up and down the length of the room so quickly that I couldn't find the effort to follow him with my eyes. "There is no reason for them to come at us again anytime soon, no laws broken, no... unexpected births. Why would she think that we're in danger?"

Rosalie's head snapped up from its drooped position, her eyes wide with regret. Of course she would have told her, Rosalie wasn't afraid of speaking her mind at any time so why would she have hesitated to tell her the truth about the danger that still remained to haunt us all. We hadn't broken any laws, we hadn't caused any trouble but that wouldn't affect the Volturi's motivations one bit. To think they claimed to be enforcers of the law, _pah._

"What!" Alice shrieked, running into the room as Edward set me on my feet. I didn't want to stand up, not now, there was no strength left in my body to do anything. If only I could stop thinking as well. She already had her arms held out to catch me so she instantly slipped them underneath mine as I staggered to the side. Was I really so pathetically predictable? Yes, was the simple answer. I felt the smooth material of cushions on my legs but I couldn't care about that less now.

Edward continued to explain to Carlisle about the letter, speaking in a tone I had only heard from him before when I was in danger. Now, his daughter was in serious danger, and he seemed to be feeling exactly the same. I fingered the paper in my hands, examining each word with intense concentration. My eyes were sweeping across the writing, but I was not evening caring to take in the meanings of the words anymore. Two words that I had read before made me feel like someone had plunged a serrated dagger into my chest, turning it around and around to make me suffer. Forget me. She must have known that I could never let her go. That was when it clicked in my mind.

_She knew I could never let her go._

I ran my eyes once more over the words. There were several points where the paper had very nearly been pierced with excess pressure from the pen, running down in a diagonal line across the page.

"Edward!" I screamed, my voice so high pitched it must have nearly shattered the glass of the windows.

"Bella! Bella, what's wrong?" He rushed over, rubbing his hands down my forearms desperately. I pushed them off, something that I would never do normally. This wasn't normally. I sprung off the sofa and yanked open the kitchen draws, pulling out a silver plated, red inked pen. I dragged it over the paper in a line over the indentations, scanning my eyes over it again and again. I was overcome with two different waves of feeling – relief that she hadn't left us of her own accord, for if she had I would never, ever forgive myself and the pulsing dread of what was going to happen to her now.

I'm so sorry.

I'm not coming back. I can't come bac**k**. You're in danger because of me and I can't face that.

I'm running straight to the Voltur**i** now. They can have me by all means, but they can never have you. Please try and understand.

I'm the biggest mistake you have ma**d**e. But I think you'll agree it was worth it for what we had and I will never ever, forget you.

You must know it's my life for nine. I can **n**ever stand back and watch them hurting you over me because I know that is coming.

It's impossible for me. This will always benefit **a**ll of you. Please trust me, if you still can after this.

They are not getting their way. I would never, ever **p**lease them. No matter how much they hurt me.

No matter how much they torture me. They won't get to **p**ush me around. I am still a Cullen.

And I will be forever. But for once, let somebody save your liv**e**s. Forget me. However hard that may be for you all.

There is one final thing that you have to try and please, please **d**o for me.

Don't come after me.

I love you.

Renesmee,

"She knew Edward; she knew we couldn't forget her. She knew I wouldn't let her go just like that. She must have been being watched when she wrote this!" I stuffed the paper quickly into Edward's chest. "She's so clever."

What else could I have expected of her? She was Edward's daughter, and he was one of the most extraordinarily intelligent people I had ever known. There was no way that she would have walked out without a fight, even if it was not a physical one. Edward's breathing speed up even more, his fists both clenched into tight balls.

"What gives them the right? What has she ever done?" He snarled, taking one more look at the elegant lettering.

"Nothing." Alice hissed. "She's done nothing, they can't just take her!"

I agreed and disagreed with that sentence. She _had_ done nothing wrong but they _could_ just take her away from us. They were the Volturi, the rulers, they got whatever they wished for.

Apart from when we were involved.

"Edward, we have to go. Now."

He nodded, clasping my hand and sprinting with me out of the French doors. Her scent was stronger outside, setting a clear trail in the air that continuously swerved sharply left and right as if she was attempting to throw any followers of her trail. The sand stuck to my feet as we ran along the silvery beach, jumping in and out of water constantly as the scent led us on a curly path. The trail led up piles of fallen rocks, until another sickly scent hit me in the face like a mallet.

"It's them alright. I can recognise that filth any day." Edward snarled, looking out towards the horizon where the sharp points of jagged met with the fading sunlight in the sky.

"Mom!" Renesmee's scream echoed through the valley as a group of figures vanished over a point ahead. We instantly leapt effortlessly off the rocks like someone had suddenly pulled a trigger, landing on the other side of the shadowed crevasse in seconds. I let Edward's hand drop and scrambled up the near vertical face to crouch on the tallest summit of all the rocks. The view took my breath away. It was so beautiful that I would stay here forever if I could, never having to venture nearer to the danger. Nothing could possibly be a threat to us out here, not amidst all this stunning natural beauty. I dropped my gaze to where Edward had sprung down to and despite my odd disbelief, underneath the trees ahead stood Jane and Alec, holding a struggling girl in their arms. With every step we took forward, Alec took a step to the side, moving ever closer to the edge of the cliff and pushing Renesmee in front of him.

"Don't take another step Edward, or she goes off the edge." Alec spoke clearly. His hands locked around Renesmee's in place of handcuffs.

"She isn't that delicate Alec." He instantly stopped edging forward anyway and took a couple of uneven steps backwards towards the rock face. I sprung down next to him while he snarled uncontrollably.

Alec's expression fell from his mischievous smile to a small frown of defeat. He leaned in closer to her body, his lips brushing against her neck.

"Then I'll just have to find another way to kill her, won't I?"

I instantly reached what he was implying with his body language, another way to kill her – drinking her sweet smelling blood. I took a step forward without thinking and immediately regret flooded through me. Edward slipped his hand into my grip and gently pulled me back into his arms, most likely for the fact that if he hadn't, I would have just caused even more trouble. Alec smiled at my lack of self control and opened his mouth so I could see every single point of every single razor sharp tooth. They were so close to her neck. Less than half a second and he could start to drain the life out of her.

"Let her go Alec, now." Edward growled, shooting a deadly expression at him. "I'm warning you."

Alec swung his head to the side to face Jane and gave her a small but certain nod. She smiled in delight and turned to Renesmee. Her flaming red eyes lit up ecstatically like a young child on Christmas morning as she sent her agonising gift shooting towards my helpless daughter.

Renesmee collapsed onto the floor as she screamed in excruciating pain. Jane's mouth opened too as if she was going to fire insults at both me and Edward but instead a high laugh burst out from her lungs. My whole body tensed as I shot my shield out instantly, and her writhing came to a halt.

"She broke our law Edward, exposed herself to the humans." Alec tugged Renesmee back up to her feet again from the rocks. "It is our duty to deal with it."

Edward's eyes widened as he looked into Nessie's, even further with every second until she finally broke her gaze away from his.

"When Aymie showed her those animals the other day on the hill, she ran down a footpath and Renesmee followed – the humans... there must have been humans there, they would have seen her speed." He groaned and kicked a pointed rock across the ground.

I had my gaze locked on my Renesmee, her head hung down, too scared to look into anybodies eyes and an expression on her face that looked to me like an expression of shame mixed with a whole bundle of fear.

"She must face the punishment." Jane said, still beaming.

"You wouldn't hurt her." Edward hissed, his hand still soldered to mine. "Her talents are too precious to your guard. I read Aro's mind in the clearing before, he _wants_ her."

Alec loosened his grip on Renesmee's hands; instead he clutched her shoulders and swung her around. She flew into the tree opposite him and crumpled to the ground again as limp as a rag doll.

I managed to force a word out of my mouth.

"RENESMEE!"

She laid still, her limbs distorted on the rocks. A thin trickle of blood was rolling down her cheek from her open mouth. Jane skipped over to her joyfully, crouching down by her side to hear her uneven breathing.

"She's still alive Bella." She giggled, her nostrils flaring at the smell of blood swirling into the air. It surprised me that she didn't swing her head down there and then and lap the fragrant liquid up of her skin there and then. "No harm done."

"I thought you said she wasn't fragile Edward." Alec laughed, wandering towards where Jane knelt and stoking her hair lovingly when he reached her.

"You're sick!" I screamed in a pitch that stung the back of my throat. My body took over my mind, my legs kicked out at Edward as I ran forward. He tightened his grip on my hand and swung me back into his chest. The strength inside him made his arms like unbreakable shackles around me, no matter how much I tried to fight my way out they stayed firm and tight. After about thirty seconds I gave up, my mind shut down, my body shut down and my shield panged me in the face like an elastic band.

"Not as sick as your husband Bella." Alec murmured. Edward winced slightly at the words as they were spoken. "I think we'd better be off now, Aro is awaiting our return."

I turned my head to Edward.

"They can't do this, please say they can't do this."

He closed his eyes and took in one slow breath in through his nose. "Bella, they can."

I wanted to scream as loud as I could but I kept it down, doing something I found almost impossible.

"Please, one thing." I whimpered, unhooking the curved clasp of the necklace that hung around my neck.

"Just you." Alec nodded, raising one curved eyebrow and stepping back ever so slightly.

I prised Edward's hands off my shoulders and ran forward to Renesmee.

"Darling, I love you so much." I lifted up her lifeless head from the floor and slipped the tiny chain of pearls around her neck. I stroked my sleeve across her face where the blood still ran and pressed my lips to her forehead. Her eyelids remained firmly shut so that she was totally unaware to my presence beside her. I wondered if she would even remember the last time she had seen us...

"Back off Bella." Alec flung a silver box into my hands as I managed sit up.

"Please." I croaked as he scooped her limp body up into one arm. "Don't do this."

He turned his back on me and started to run, Renesmee's head swinging gently over his arm.

I fixed my eyes on the spot where they disappeared into the trees, forgetting everything else around me. If only everything could just disappear. If only this was a nightmare and Edward would rouse me from my terror any second. If only I could sleep, to escape the sheer terror of reality.

"Bella, love."

Edward's face appeared in front of mine, blurred by my misted vision. I didn't move my gaze to his eyes when he lifted my face with his marble finger tips, my eyes still focused on the exact spot where they'd run off into the distance.

"Come on Bella, please." He whispered desperately, shaking my shoulders slightly.

I refocused my eyes on his face, still motionless. His expression was a mix of so many things it was nearly impossible to read. Pain, anger, worry, loss and concern.

"Let's get you to Carlisle, love." He whispered again, lifting me up into his cradled forearms like a baby. I felt the air rushing past my ears as he ran, although his eyes didn't break from my face. "It's going to be alright. I promise you darling."

I didn't see anything rushing past us, there was only the wind to assure me that we were moving at an extreme speed. Edward's face was still but not blank. The sadness that possessed his expression just brought me down even further into an abyss of emptiness. There was a sliding sound of a door and then the sunshine of the outdoors was gone and the sky was replaced by a cream coloured ceiling above me.

"Edward, where is she? What happened?" Alice scuttled over, glancing down at my empty face.

"They've got her; they've taken her to Italy." He croaked.

It must have been at least twelve hours now, since I had moved. The sun had vanished and reappeared, the light casting intricate shadows on the floor. Edward had got a grip on himself immediately, why couldn't my so called "preparation" come into use now. My mind should be spinning, clicking and turning, thinking of ideas. It wasn't, when the time came that I desperately needed it, it shut itself down. If I sat here forever, nothing would get better, it could only get worse. Couldn't it? I turned my head to the side.

"Bella!" Alice folded her hands across my cheeks. "Bella, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you Alice!" I stood up, pushing her onto the couch in my rush. I pulled a rucksack from the stand in the hallway and ran back to the living room. "Pack me some clothes, I'm going."

Alice shook her head. "Bella, this isn't just something where you can just go. Not just like that."

"I can, I can do whatever I want Alice!" I realised that I was screaming at her.

A sharp gush of air ran down the back of my neck as the door flung open. A set of arms slid across my chest and pulled me backwards.

"Bella, we can't jump into anything. This is the Volturi." Edward's voice calmed me immediately, like some sort of depressant, a depressant that I was deeply addicted too. I swivelled around and pressed my head against his shoulder.

"I can't..."

"I know you can't darling." He whispered, "I love you so much, you're so unbelievable."

My mouth let out a wounded sound, something I would have produced when I was crying. That last moment with my daughter, the necklace I placed around her neck, something wasn't there. I was missing something huge.

"Wait." I whispered.

My legs managed to carry me over to the couch, my hands just about strong enough to pull back the cushion on which I had sat on earlier. A silver box glinted. I ripped off the lid and turned the object over and over in my fingers. A camera, not a normal camera but a web camera.

"Edward!" I threw the cables into his waiting hand and ran to the flat screen. I pressed the clip of the camera with all my remaining force and set it on top of the set. Edward tugged the cable round from behind and clipped it into the back.

"Please." I whispered as I pressed the button to turn it on. I stepped back, grasping Edward's hand.

"Oh, finally, you've actually decided to join us!" Caius sighed, rising out of his chair to walk towards us on the screen.

Aro stepped into view, "Edward, my friend."

"I am no friend of yours Aro." His voice was back to the protective snarl.

Aro frowned and turned to me with his arms out in a way like they were stood in the room in front of us, ready to embrace me.

"Bella, don't you look beautiful, such an incredible immortal – such a pointless use." I bit my tongue to stop myself from retaliating, what the Volturi enjoy the most.

"Where is she Aro?" Edward hissed as Alice walked to his side.

"She's with Jane, in her chamber. I'll send someone to get her for you if you wish." Aro smiled gently.

Edward raised one eyebrow. "With _Jane _in _her_ chamber."

"We're not planning to kill her Edward, she's something that we cannot just waste. With those talents of hers and her being such a strange creature, we can make something of her yet." Caius said.

"That is unless she doesn't cooperate; in that case she may have to face her punishment." Marcus mumbled, not looking up from the parchments in his hand, rather uninterested in us as usual.

A new voice rang into the air. "It isn't going to come to that."

My teeth nearly sliced right through my tongue when I heard. Jane. She grimaced as she saw me.

"Edward." She whispered. "Bella."

I almost choked on my own tongue as she dragged a petrified Renesmee into the shot.

"Renesmee is hungry Aro." Jane smiled.

"Mom!" Renesmee broke free from Jane's grip and ran forward to the camera. "Dad!"

A tiny silver tear rolled down her cheek, highlighting the scarlet scars that ran down her face.

"It's alright darling; they're not going to hurt you." Edward whispered for me. "You've just got to stay strong for us until we find a way to get you out."

She spun around as Jane giggled again, more excitable this time. In Alec's arms was a struggling figure, a human girl.

"Oh." Edward breathed.


	8. Chapter 7

Renesmee's eyes flickered up and down the trembling human. The young girl's face was heart breaking, her eyes were flashing between Renesmee on the floor and the sniggering figures positioned around the room. She would have no clue what was going on or what her fate was turning towards. I only hoped that it would be quick, whatever end her life came to.

"Oh." She whispered. "No, no, no, no."

She spun on her heels and shot towards the oak doorway. Felix appeared in front of her, spinning her round with his large hands.

"Yes, yes, yes and yes." He prodded her in the small of her back with his finger tips and she fell forward onto her knees.

Jane sprung over, seizing Nessie's hand again to pull her forwards. "I'll feed you Renesmee, if you're going to find it easier to handle."

I felt my heart jump, my brain frazzle, and my hands shaking.

"GET YOUR STINKING HANDS OFF HER!" I screamed, making Edward jump out of his skin next to me.

So much for my stupid self control, that had flown straight out the window with Renesmee. He pulled me closer towards his body protectively – to protect me from a danger that wasn't even here.

Jane laughed. "Renesmee's my new play doll Bella."

I froze. Play doll. Out of all the people I've ever hated, James, Victoria, Aro, I had never felt hate as strongly as this. It was like a fire burning from my insides, trying to burst through my skin and devour my victim, my victim would be Jane. I had to kill her, it had become a necessity.

"Maybe it would help if she could smell it Caius." Jane spoke in a clear voice, pulling Renesmee closer and closer to the struggling human. Caius nodded and dug his pointed nails into the human's pulsing skin, releasing a fresh flow of blood dribbling onto the floor. Renesmee's hands flew to her face to shield her senses from the tantalising smell. I knew her control was nowhere near as strong as any other member of our family. She was a child and to her, human blood was exciting as a thousand presents would be to an ordinary girl. Although, Renesmee had never once had the pleasure of drinking it from a living, breathing body, the only taste we had allowed her to have was when she had drunk from her bottle as an infant. The human girl sent a spine tingling scream into the air as a set of tears sprung out from her lapis blue eyes.

"I won't do it." Nessie stated in a definite tone while she tried to shake her arm from Jane's grip.

Jane's smile stretched even wider. "Maybe a taste will convince her."

"Do it Jane and I swear I'll rip your throat out personally." Edward snarled.

Jane pulled on Renesmee's tangled hair, forcing her head back and her small mouth open. Caius stepped over them, hanging his finger over her mouth. A small drip rolled off his finger tip onto her waiting tongue. She had never tasted the blood of a human directly from the body and I knew she wouldn't be able to help herself.

"Resist it Nessie, it's not who you are." Carlisle said calmly as they entered the room behind us.

She clutched her neck with both of her trembling hands. "I can't."

"Go on Renesmee, think of the warm blood in your throat, think of the satisfaction." Jane urged her forward gently. "They're holding you back from all these pleasures. Live a little."

She unclipped the pearls from around her neck and laid them reluctantly onto the stone floor.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered as she wandered reluctantly towards the writhing girl sprawled on the floor. I was surprised she could she where she was going with the amount of water overflowing from her chocolate eyes.

"Renesmee, you don't have to do this." Edward whispered, his mouth was pressed into a line and his eyes full of desperation.

She shook her head, threw her hair over her shoulder and plunged her teeth into the screaming girl's neck. Edward's hand tightened so hard around mine that I let out a yelp, though that pain was nowhere near as bad as the pain in my heart.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry." He pressed my face into his chest, shielding my eyes from the screen.

Seconds dragged by in silence, only the sound of Renesmee's deep breathing filling the air until a slight popping sound gave away that she'd finished. I twisted my neck to face the screen. Caius had removed the shrivelled body from the floor and left Renesmee on her knees with her face turned away from the camera.

"Say goodbye, Nessie." Aro whispered walking forward to the camera.

"What?" She was shrieking now, still facing away from us. "You just said if I did that you'd let me keep in touch! You lied."

"White lie," Aro whispered as a cruel smile began to take over his lips. "Say goodbye Nessie. Why don't you show them your face."

"No!" Me and Renesmee whispered together in unison.

Jane grabbed her blood matted hair again and yanked her face round to the camera. Her pale skin was covered in scars from earlier and blood from her meal, tears rolled continuously down her cheeks and her eyes were draining into a different colour. Amber.

"I love you." She whispered.

The screen went black so all I could see was my own reflection staring blankly into the plastic.

The fire burned through my veins, setting my limbs alight. I tore the camera of the flat screen and sent it flying into the wall; it shattered into tiny pieces on impact.

"Bella," Edward whispered softly.

Why where they bothered about me? My daughter, _our _daughter was with the most dangerous vampire clan that ever existed and they were bothered about me!

"WHY?" I screamed at the top of my voice.

The fire took control of my limbs again, kicking and lashing out at anything I could find. The sofa keeled over as I kicked at it, the television sliding of the wall as I hammered my fists against it. I would leave nothing unscathed. As I walloped more items of furniture and photos, I realised that I had gained an audience. I wanted to stop, to apologize but I couldn't, my body wouldn't respond to my mind. Only my heart had control of the reigns.

Edward stepped forward, his eyes surrounded by a dark shadow and his mouth open on the verge of speaking but no words came out.

"Bella, are you hurt?" Carlisle spoke in a tone so relaxed that he could have just been to heaven and back.

My fists clenched as another screech escaped my lips. Esme stood against the wall, petrified by my behaviour. I was scaring her. I was being a monster. Emmett just lounged on one of the armchairs, smiling in amusement at my pathetic tantrum. My legs started shaking violently as my vision turned a strange scarlet colour. Everything had been so perfect, everything, and now it was all totally ruined. Take one piece of the jigsaw away, no matter how big or small it is and the rest of the jigsaw was incomplete. My life was incomplete without her and nothing could change that!

"Bella?" Edward pulled his voice together, now speaking clearly instead of a broken whisper.

I turned my head towards his, my heart tearing as I saw his expression. His eyes were hard as they opened wider, his mouth turned down at the corners and his forehead lined with concern. He looked exactly as he would if he was standing with Jane, in agony. "Come here, love."

I shook my head and ran, slamming the French door behind me. That one action would have killed him inside. I knew that I would gain a pursuer in less than a second but I had to get to Italy _now. _I had to get Renesmee back and I was willing to give them myself for her, even if it meant giving my own life to those monsters.

Behind me I heard the door slide open again. Oh brilliant, Alice would have seen that I was planning to commit suicide or something vaguely along those lines. There was no point in running now when Edward was so much faster. My knees buckled from underneath me and I fell backwards as my mouth let out another strangled wail.

"Bella, Bella, it's alright darling." Edward's hands grasped my waist, lifting my feet from the ground.

I buried my face into his cotton shirt, breathing in the sunshine filled scent. "You cannot do something to me like what you were going to." His lips brushed softly against my forehead. "No matter what the circumstances may be."

"Silly little Bella." I croaked.

"Yes. Silly little Bella." His ruby lips twitched into a smile falling nearly as quickly as they had risen. "We will get her back love; you know I'll get her back."

Renesmee was the delicate pearl inside, incredibly special and something that we would always protect. She was ours, and no one could ever, ever take her away from us and if they wanted to, they would have to crack both pieces of the clam first. If they were planning to kill her, they would have to get through both me and Edward before they reached their sickening desire.

"What if we don't? What if it's too late when we do? What if she's one of them now?" I whispered, giving away only some of the bullets that were whizzing around my head, hitting the sides unpleasantly at every corner.

"We will, it won't be too late and she would rather die than become one of them." Edward spoke with fierce determination.

"Rather die." I repeated, pushing my legs up around his hips.

He didn't answer, just slid back towards the white washed villa.

"Edward, what if she doesn't do anything they say. What if they kill her like they said they would? She isn't the sort of girl to let people give her orders that she doesn't like."

Another no answer, Edward just stared intensively at my eyes; no doubt he was trying to read what else was going on in my mind.

I pulled out the silver cell from the pocket in his trousers, searching through the contacts until I got to J. I pressed the call button. He picked up immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jake." I whispered as my breathing sped up into small, rough pants.

"Hey, Bella! How's your holiday going?" His voice was full of excitement. "Can I speak to Nessie, please? If that is permitted of course."

"Jake, are you sitting down?" I croaked into the cell.

"No, why? What the hell is going on Bella?" The volume of his voice gradually escalated until he was nearly shouting.

Edward frowned, "Bella, I really don't think it's best to tell..."

I sucked in some air sharply through my lips. "Jake, the Volturi have Renesmee."

There was silence from down the phone for a couple of seconds. All I could hear was his heartbeat gradually racing.

"What, why, what the hell were you thinking? How could you be so stupid?" Jacob yelled down the phone making me drop the cell from my hand. Edward's long fingers shot out and he secured the phone between his cheek and shoulder blade.

"Don't you even dare speak to Bella like that! How could you even think that we would put our daughter in danger?" Edward hissed, setting me on my feet in front of the villa before sliding off into the trees again, the phone pressed to his ear.

I pushed my hair back with my shaking hand. Were vampires hands even meant to shake? Maybe this was some sort of exception, when your daughter was going to get herself killed to save _you_. I slid the door to the side and stepped into the living room.

"Oh my god, Esme stop, I'll do it!"

Esme was on her knees gathering every piece of shattered glass carefully into a cotton bag, the sofa was upside down and had one of the cushions ripped, the television was crumpled in a heap on the stone floor and the rug had two rips all the way down the length of it. In a way I couldn't even remember doing any of this; it had been like I was under an enchantment of anger.

"No Bella, its fine, honestly." Esme did not turn to face me, still shaken by my anger spree.

Alice walked in placing her hands on my shoulders from behind. "Did you invite the dog, sis?"

"Not formally, but did you expect him to stay where he was?"

"So you told him?" Alice walked around me frowning in annoyance.

I nodded, bending down to stand the sofa back on its dark, wooden feet.

"Brilliant." She sighed. "I can't see what we're going to do Bella."

What did Alice expect me to say to him? 'Oh sorry Jacob, I didn't want to tell you that the centre of your entire life was about to get herself killed just in case you got in the way of Alice's visions. It's a little annoying.'

I sighed deeply. "Well, we need to _decide_ what we're going to do and we need to decide now."

Jasper sighed. "Bella, if we head into this wanting a fight, that's exactly what we're going to get. It's the Volturi; lives will be lost this time."

"Their lives." I hissed. "Jane's stinking little hell hole of a life."

"They have mental weapons and physical strength. We have both too but can you imagine how many people they would bring to fight, to eliminate their only competition, us?" Carlisle paced smoothly back and forth. "More than last time now they've seen what we have. Aro has his contacts and the power of force..."

I looked up at him with a pleading look entering my eyes. "We have numbers. We have more than enough Carlisle. This will be an uneven fight, with _us_ at an advantage."

"You want it to turn into a fight Bella?" Carlisle said, fingering his cell carefully.

I nodded.

It would turn into a fight no matter what. They weren't the type to negotiate and we had nothing to negotiate with. I would never let them take another member of my family, even to save my daughter, unless it was me. This would turn into a fight, lives will be lost and my daughter would keep her life no matter what it took for me to do.

"Jacobs on his way." Edward took his place next to me, "Sounds like he's bringing nine of the pack."

"That's ten." I whispered. "Plus all of us, if Aymie is willing to fight for us, makes nineteen."

"Bella, can you imagine how much is going to be lost if this doesn't work?" Edward murmured, twisting his arm around my hips.

"It is going to work." I squeezed his hand with all my force. "Jane is going to die soon, if I am going down, she's coming with me and I'll take as many of the rest of them as I can."

Carlisle slid open his phone, "Benjamin, I'm going to ask you to do something incredibly huge for us again."

Carlisle shut the phone for the fourth time.

"They're all coming over, so far." He whispered, anxiety clouding his face.

Carlisle had phoned Benjamin first, one of the most helpful of our friends last time the Volturi got involved. He would surely be helpful; Benjamin could control the four elements, something that no mental shield of theirs could block out. Along with Benjamin, we would gain Tia, Benjamin's mate. Somehow Benjamin had also managed to persuade Amun and Kebi to fight, _they_ had fled from the danger last time but I was in no position to hold that against them now.

_Twenty three._

After securing help from the Egyptian coven, Carlisle had rung the Amazonians. Zafrina had also been extremely helpful and beneficial last time. With her help, I had perfected my shield, the thing that saved our skins. She had also taken deeply to Renesmee so it had been pretty certain that she would be willing to give us her help. Senna and Kachiri would be joining us too, I had to admit that the Amazonians weren't my favourite friends; they intimidated _me_ quite a lot with their looks and fighting spirit. Perfect.

_Twenty six._

Jasper had suggested Peter and Charlotte again and Carlisle gained their immediate agreement after explaining our case. I didn't particularly enjoy living with vampires who feasted on human blood, but in this situation, I would put up with anything at all.

_Twenty eight._

The latest call that Carlisle had made had been to the Denali coven. Eleazar, Carmen, Tanya, Kate and Garrett were our considered cousins. Tanya, Carmen and Kate had stunned me with their beauty and grace so I don't think I'd given them the best impression, although Kate had also helped with my shield, maybe not in the best way possible. She had used her ability to send a shock through your body with a touch to force me to expand my shield while she constantly shocked Edward.

"_Thirty three." _

Edward squeezed my hips again as I spoke, I knew he was trying to wean me out of fighting. He had no chance. Carlisle slid open his cell again.

The European nomads had also joined us before but Alastair, an obnoxious pig in my opinion, had left when the Volturi approached. Charles was the mate of Makenna and could help extremely with his ability to discover if a statement is true.

_Thirty six._

Carlisle would also be ringing the Irish coven. Siobhan, Liam and Maggie were strong willed and strong built. Siobhan was suspected to have the ability to change a situation through willpower and Maggie had the ability to tell if someone is lying.

_Thirty nine._

The final people that Carlisle could possibly ask to fight and possibly the easiest to convince would be the Romanians. Vladimir and Stefan were overthrown by the Volturi 150 years ago, their castle destroyed along with their clan. I was under the impression that they would do anything to gain revenge, surely this had to be the perfect opportunity. That brought our total to:

_Forty One._

Edward took my hand and pulled me gently onto the terrace, paved with round terracotta tiles.

"Bella, this is going to be a fight. I don't know if I can let you jump into it wanting to sacrifice yourself to pull down the Volturi." He whispered, nearly whimpered.

My mouth dropped. "Edward, I am going to fight, of course I am going to fight."

"There's no way I'm going to be able to stop you?" He turned me around so my back was pressed firmly against his chest, pressing my arms to my sides. "I can't live with you gone, you may well be bringing Jane down but you'll bring a whole load more down with you Bella if you go and get yourself killed out there."

I took a deep breath, leaning my head back so I could see his concerned expression again.

"I'm going to fight. But I promise won't jump into anything, I have no intention to die, I only have the intention to kill, to kill all of them."

He let out a deep sigh and spun me round, securing his cool lips on mine as we toppled to the floor, our bodies warped into one.


	9. Chapter 8

A sharp wrap on the French door interrupted our conversation. I speed over to greet our first arrivals.

"Tanya!" I breathed.

She stepped forward and bound my arms to my body as she yanked me into a strong hug.

"Bella, you must be so heartbroken!"

I shook my head. "My heart isn't broken; it's completely controlling my body at the moment."

Tanya dropped her hands gently to move onto Edward. Carmen stepped forward, her eyes deep and filled with pain. She had been the first to listen to our case and not fear Renesmee, she loved her. Carmen's eyes did not look into mine; instead they wandered, glancing down at the floor then at the shattered television set and back again.

"How long has it been?" She took in a deep breath. "How long have they had her?"

"Five days." I choked. I hadn't realised it had been so long, it had all seemed so fast for me. For her, it would have been torture. Edward must have seen my expression as I spoke.

"Bella, she'll be alright." He murmured in my ear.

Kate stepped to the side to clear the doorway and as a subtle hint to Edward.

"I'll speak to you later Edward." Tanya whispered as she glided further into the villa to greet the rest of the family.

I closed my eyes as Edward's arms curled tightly around my body and he scooped me up to cradle me into his chest – only opening them when my neck rubbed against the hot sand as he finally laid me down.

"You know that if I could, I would be ripping their throats out right now." Edward whispered, settling next to me with his arm curled around my waist.

I felt so useless. Why were we laid here in this blissful place when our daughter was in so much danger that I couldn't think of it without falling limp and lifeless once again?

I pulled a tiny bit of energy together to whisper a sentence. "That's what their probably doing to her as we speak."

Edward wrenched his arm from underneath me and disappeared behind the rocks.

How could I be so selfish, so self centred? I'd been falling to pieces so much that it would have been nearly impossible for him to stay together. Edward _had _to stay together, or I would completely crack.

"Edward, I'm sorry."

I pushed my body from the sand and slid behind the jagged rock face.

"Please, don't, apologize to me." Edward pulled his hands from the stone where two handprints had sunk in as easily as a knife would cut through butter, his face was so torn with pain that I couldn't bear to say anything else. "You have nothing at all to apologize for Bella."

"I do, I've been so ignorant and selfish and..."

He shook his head and pulled me to his body. "You are the most un-ignorant and un-selfish girl I have ever met. I can't bear to see you in this much pain." He squeezed my shoulder. "I hate _them_ so much_. _They're killing us from the inside, tearing away at every opportunity to try and weaken us. If only they knew how much it's provoking us. They're so unbelievably, breath-takingly sick, I cannot see how no one has knocked them of the top spot by now."

My head snapped around instinctively as a new scent stung the air - wolf stench.

"Come on," I mumbled. "I'm going to need backup with him."

I took Edward by the arm and leaped across the beach to the villa where the disgusting scent was even stronger. With every second we stood in the clearing in front of the villa, the scent became more and more pungent, like someone was screaming louder and louder, deafening my senses.

"Jacob..."

"How could you even let this happen?" Jacob spoke with a hint of disbelief in his voice as he emerged from trees that swayed gently in the breeze. His simple clothes were ripped and frayed, his hands were gripping his jaggedly cut hair tightly and his eyes were ringed with a dark shadow, as dark as the night sky.

"Jacob, it was never Bella's fault." Edward snarled.

Jacob pulled my into his arms, breathing unevenly down my neck. "It's only you that makes mistakes, isn't it Edward."

I pushed him away abruptly and stepped back into Edward's awaiting embrace, glowering at my best friend with an expression that I hoped looked annoyed.

"Jacob, I know how hard this is for you, for all of us." I said. He shook his head viciously from side to side and turned to face into the trees so that he was stood with his back to us.

"Hard? That has got to be the biggest understatement you've ever made Bella. I've never felt so torn, so hurt!" He shouted, still facing away. "Even that seems like an understatement. When you've nearly died so many times before I was pained then, but this is so much worse! I feel that I'm looking at a world so bleak and bland that there is no point at all in life, in me living at all."

"She isn't dead Jacob; we're going to get her back." Edward rubbed my arm gently as he spoke. "I won't let them get away with this."

Jacob spun around. "She isn't dead."

"Jacob." I warned him.

"She isn't dead." He mimicked again, "She is my world, my universe, my anchor to reality. How the hell can you say that! They'll be torturing her, hurting her, destroying her and all you can think of is that she isn't dead! She isn't like you are! She's so delicate, so small and still a baby and you have no idea how much pain she'll be in now. She wants somebody to kill her; I can feel it, because of how much pain she's in. If _you _aren't going to get her back, _I_ am, now."

His body shook from head to toe as he unbuttoned his ripped shirt. Edward let out a dark growl.

"Jake, stop." I choked. Hearing a description of what Renesmee must be suffering out loud ripped my heart apart word by word.

"No Bella, you stop, stop being so useless and boring and get a life, a proper one."

The fur burst from his body as he sprung into the trees, leaving a cloud of dust floating innocently in the air.

"She wants someone to kill her." I whimpered.

Edward pulled back my hair from my face, stroking his hand along my cheekbones.

"We're going to have to go sooner than I thought. Bella, she is not going to get her way, no matter how stubborn she's being." Edward whispered. "I need to go after Jacob; it's only going to get a whole lot worse if he goes to them alone. I'll be back soon, love."

My throat stung as I spoke. "Why can't she just do what they say?"

Edward pressed his lips to my cheek before turning to run, "Because she's your daughter Bella, and she's a Cullen. Would you stand by and let them boss you about?"

He too sprinted into the trees leaving the shrubs rustling in the wave of air his speed created.

Why couldn't she just do what she was told, just until we got there? I hadn't realised, or wanted to realise, how much pain she'd be going through. With Jane at her side, playing with her mind like a chew toy and no one there to help her, my baby would be being tortured. It hurt me to even think about it; so much so that I felt as if I was there with her, being ripped to shreds.

I staggered forward slowly, following Edward's scent into the trees for a couple of minutes.

"Bella!" Two voices spoke at once.

One was a high tinkling bell that was shouting out in horror. I recognised it instantly as Alice.

The other a deep voice that was full of satisfaction and delight, easily identifiable as an enemy.

"Bella, we've been waiting so long for you to be alone." Felix stepped forward with his arms open wide and a smile covering his face. "Don't you get tired of Edward following you, it's like he stalks you ever minute of the day."

Alice screamed from somewhere in the trees. "Bella, you have to run!"

I spun round, desperately trying to make sense of what was happening. I felt a pressure around my waist, getting tighter and tighter like a boa constrictor. I realised that I was the helpless prey. It was only then that my legs began to move, trying to run from the danger. Trying to run from whatever was already holding me back.

"Too late Alice," The voice sung out. "Snap decisions are the trick to get around you, you see."

I pushed with my all the strength I could summon, trying to snap the unbreakable band around me, my limbs were thrashing out at every possible part of my captor that I could reach but I seemed to do no good whatsoever.

"Alice, _you _have to get away." I breathed through the pressure on my chest and my throat.

Demetri laughed as he walked into my view. "Although Alice would be the perfect addition to our guard, we have no intention of taking her today Bella. We just need you."

A hand pressed tightly to my mouth, muffling any hope of shouting for help. Edward would be too far away to hear any of this and there was no way that Alice would be able to fight off Demetri and the bulk of muscle behind me.

"We can get past Alice's gift easily, yours is a different story Bella and under Aro's orders, you are not going anywhere near this fight." Felix tightened his grip around my throat, his hand gripping a clump of my hair so hard that I feared he was going to tear it straight from my head. He jerked my head back sharply every time I attempted to move even a single inch.

So they already knew it was going to be a fight, and they knew that without my shield it would be a hell of a lot easier for them to win. They could blind every one of my family, torture them like a raging fire and then kill every single one of them with ease.

My face slammed on the rock as Felix threw me to the ground. He spun around to defend himself from the attacker who had just tried to take a rip out of his throat. _Alice_ had told me to run, _Alice_ was nearly always right. I pushed my body from the ground and sprung into the air as elegantly as an antelope only to be yanked straight back down to earth like a helpless object caught in a gravitational pull. Demetri secured his rough hand under my chin and his arm around my chest exactly where Felix had placed his before. From around his body I could see Alice clawing at Felix's back furiously.

"Alice, run!" I screamed desperately."Please listen to me Alice..."

The rest of my sentence was cut off by Demetri's hand clamping down over my lips. A huge figure appeared from the trees, launching himself forward at the two who were fighting in front of me.

Jacob.

"Jacob, you have to fetch the others!" Alice screeched, as she leaped out of the way of a swipe from Felix. "Do it!"

He swung again and caught her around her hips, chucking her effortlessly behind the pile of jagged rocks to my right. Jacob turned as quickly as a flash lightening in a raging storm towards the villa again, his legs pumped up and down as he ran and his rusty fur flew back in the wind. Before he disappeared I saw his head snapping back as he let out a piercing howl.

"Felix, we must go back before the rest of them come." Demetri snarled as I kicked at his legs.

A sound rolled out from the trees. A rip of terror through the dry air. The sound was something so terrifying I would have believed it to be another enemy, if I didn't recognise the tone.

Edward.

He ran, eyes open wide and mouth open wider, into the clearing, letting out a growl so loud it was like a thunder clap in the middle of a storm. His hands were drawn back behind his body like a cape.

His voice tore of his mouth in a staggered snarl. "Get your disgusting hands off my wife."

Demetri laughed and loosened his grip on my arms slightly – an action that made me instantly dread whatever was coming next.

"As you wish Edward." He whispered, smiling. "I'll use my feet instead."

I felt a sharp crack in my neck as Demetri snapped my head around to face Edward. My back arched backwards elegantly as he struck it with an enormous amount of force, his studded boot sending cracks up and down my back. The pain surged through my veins like a fierce fire. I couldn't scream, I couldn't for Edward's sake. Demetri struck my back again but with much more force, it sent me into flying through the air and slamming face flat into the rocks opposite. I could feel cracks in the marble skin of my face as well. I ran one finger over my cheek and it felt as if someone had shattered a vase and then blindly stuck the pieces back together. I dreaded to think what I looked like to Edward.

"Bella, no!"

I heard his voice through the searing pain that continued to surge through my body. He sounded so confused, not even sure what feeling to let take over. Pain, love, or _anger._ The fiery feeling in my back started to ease, gradually sinking deeper into my granite skin. I raised my head off the rocks. Edward and Felix were a blur in front of me as they weaved in and out, striking out at each other at every opportunity. If he got hurt... I couldn't even bear to think about that. So many ifs, why couldn't life be certain, why did everything have to be confusing, so difficult?

The blurs stopped. Edward was knelt on the floor, frozen. Felix had one of his oversized hands around his neck and the other pressed against his forehead. Between his thumb and index finger he held a small, metallic, cigarette lighter.

"Would you like the honour Demetri, or can I?"

Felix smiled as Demetri grabbed me around the waist and hauled me up to my feet. I started thrashing out again, so much more viciously this time. How dare they do this to us, to him! I wanted to kill them all, the whole lot of them, now. Their blood would be spilled and it was going to happen extremely soon. I couldn't speak, call out to him, I could only fight the clasps around me.

"You can have him; I'm saving myself for the wolves if you must know." He ran his hand across my tangled hair like he was caressing it, stroking it in Edward's place.

Edward's mouth curved downwards, his chest was heaving slowly up and down. Felix took his grip on his neck and cheek, ready to kill, his nail inching closer to the switch that would drown his captives body in burning flames. Edward took a deep breath, and tensed, ready to die.

"NO, PLEASE!" I screamed. "STOP, I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Edward opened his eyes to look into mine. His face morphed through several expressions in such a short time that it was almost funny. A second or two passed before he spoke – his words made the ones I was about to whisper fly out of my mind.

"You can take me; take me for as long as you want. I'll run with you all the way to Italy with no hassle, as long as you swear to let Bella go and never touch her again." He whispered, the words spilling out off his hanging mouth. "I'm begging you."

Felix smiled cruelly. "And why should we agree to that? We need only Bella tonight, Aro's orders."

"You want to gain an advantage in the fight. I can see exactly what you're planning to do; I can outsmart my opponents without needing my speed or my strength. If you want even a chance of winning this, you need me out of the way." Edward drew in a sharp breath. "I'm a better fighter, than Bella, you'll have a better chance of winning. She can't even use her shield while she's fighting!"

What was he doing? Giving the Volturi tactics that actually worked! Sometimes, I didn't understand my husband's mind one bit.

"I've caught you before Edward." Felix said. "Twice in fact, now."

Demetri spoke as I kicked out at his legs again, thumping my hand against his stomach. I had to get to Edward, stop him from this, stop him from doing this to himself for me, he just couldn't do this.

"You're right about the second part though. Not exactly superwoman is she?"

"Bella, please stop. You're going to get yourself hurt." Edward spoke with his eyes locked on my face

I shook my head in disbelief. "Get myself hurt! Edward you can't always throw yourself under the bus or in front of the bullet for me, I can't bear it."

Edward's face creased even more, his mouth was stuck somewhere between a forced sympathetic smile and a grimace.

Felix ignored me completely. "But what other advantage to us, Bella still has her darn shield even if she may not be able to maintain her power throughout."

"My point exactly." Edward whispered. "I know you are not just doing this for the fight or the victory, you enjoy hurting people, even if it's on the inside, in our minds. It's like a hobby for you, hurting, burning, and killing. You can't _hurt _Bella; you can't torture her through her thoughts like you could with me in Volterra."

"So Edward, you're suggesting we take you and torture you." Felix let go of him, but he still remained totally motionless. "In place of your wife, who Jane can't even possibly torture."

The two of us spoke at the same time.

"Yes" Edward croaked.

My voice towered above his feeble whisper. "NO!"

"Fine, Edward." Demetri spoke, smiling. "Have your way."

I choked on the air. My limbs stopped thrashing against the cage of arms that were wrapped around in front of me. Edward's expression twisted as he saw my face.

"Bella..."

Demetri interrupted. "Aro said we had to be back with Bella by midnight Felix, I'm guessing the limit still stands with _him_."

Felix grunted and stuck his hand out to point into the trees. "Edward."

He was going, to them, now and I couldn't stop it. He was walking willingly into the open arms of the sheer agony of torture. My eyes stung viciously like a hundred bees were stinging them at once and my mouth let out a pathetic squeak.

Edward spun around. "Don't worry about _me _Bella. I'm so sorry it's come to this."

"Edward." Felix grunted again.

Edward walked forward slowly towards me. He pressed his hand to my cheek as I started to kick out again, my chest pumping up and down against Demetri's arms.

"I love you." He whispered, his lips pressed lightly to my hair.

"Edward." Felix grunted, nearly snarled.

My breathing raced as his fingers slipped away from my face and he started to step away backwards, although his agonized gaze was still on me.

"How do I stop her from coming after us?" Demetri hissed to Felix.

"She will stay where she is if she knows what's good for her." He hissed back.

I flexed my lips over my teeth. "No, I bloody well won't!"

Edward's shoulders dropped like he'd been landed with a ten tonne weight.

"Don't you even dare." He hissed.

My head smashed against the sharp rock face again, a hundred times harder than last time, and my world disappeared into inky black darkness.


	10. Chapter 9

_Edward._

_Chapter Nine: My Favourite Place in the World._

I couldn't believe how I'd been able to leave Bella there. Her head had smashed helplessly against the rocks and cracked like an eggshell under Demetri's grip and I had done nothing. Only watched as her eyelids had slid shut and her slender body had fallen to the dusted ground. However, that was so much better than the alternative that I had seen in Alice's mind as I flicked between strategies in my head. If I had let them take Bella, she would have refused to do anything they ordered her to and they would have burnt her. That image that I saw in Alice's head of Bella's body melting away into ashes was petrifying. The option of letting them take me seemed to be the safest, yet the future was unclear. Aro's decisions for what to do with me had not yet been made.

Why hadn't my mental strength slipped so I could turn around and help her? Alice was hiding behind the rocks, frozen as she flicked between the different possibilities of what would happen in the future. Sure she would help, but when she awoke her reaction could turn into anything. Bella wasn't exactly known for her emotional control, or sudden change for that matter. Would she go into a dead state again like when I had been compelled to leave her before, or another wrecking tantrum or even something suicidal? No. She wouldn't do something like that, she couldn't.

I wasn't dead; I was just gone for a while. She would have to know that.

Aro wouldn't be happy with them returning with me, they would still have lost their main offenses in the fight this would come to. Jane would most probably be delighted at my capture, another mind to tear apart piece by piece, _another_ mind.

My daughter - I had being attempting to block the thoughts of her suffering from my mind to make myself even slightly useful; god knows why I had even tried.

"Edward." Demetri snarled, breaking my thoughts.

The wind had stopped flowing past my face. The landscapes had stopped flicking repetitively in front of my eyes. Two of the most beautiful and perfect girls in the world were both in pain, whatever type that may be now, because of _me_. Sometimes, I had to wish that Carlisle had picked one of the other boys to save that night in the hospital and that I had died then like I should have done. None of this fantastical story would have ever even been thought of.

_Oh, bugger off Demetri. _

I started to run again. A mound was gradually appearing in front of us on the horizon, towering above us like a deathly giant. I drew a sharp breath in through my mouth, Bella's scent still lingered on my clothes and it touched my tongue like silk. Volterra.

Her scent was disappearing from my reach. I could remember what she smelt like of course, I could never forget that, but inhaling it for myself felt so much more incredible. Demetri bundled a dark, hooded cloak into my chest.

"Put it on, there's no need to cause a commercial today. We wouldn't want to give Aro a reason to kill you at all would we?"

Their sickly sweet scent swung around me as I tugged it on, stuffing my arms through the rough, tight sleeves. The narrow cobbled streets were so familiar, for all the wrong reasons. At least the place was less crowded with tantalising humans, only a few wandered absentmindedly through the shadows. This amount would be inadequate to satisfy their hunting needs, they couldn't just wipe out the entire population of the town unnoticed.

"Aro is waiting in the central chamber for you." Felix mumbled, leading the way through the large oak doorway out of view and knowledge of the humans. "Well, he's waiting for your wife."

Our footsteps echoed eerily off the marble floor. Bella would have recovered for certain by now, if only we'd been more careful that day, warned our daughter to watch out, we would have never been in this mess. Or would we? This wasn't really about Renesmee's breach at all, no; this was something much deeper than that. Ongoing hatred between two clans, such a deadly and powerful thing isn't it, hate. The doors flew open ahead leading into a dimly lit room; blazing torches secured in silver plated brackets along the walls were providing the only light.

"Edward?" Aro stepped forward, wringing his translucent hands over and over.

I gritted my teeth, grinding my incisors together.

"He gave himself up for his wife, said _he'd_ be the biggest blow to their fighting side." Demetri snorted and then whispered under his breath. "It's all a rather ridiculous _plan_ if you ask me."

Aro raised one eyebrow. "Would you care to explain yourself Edward, please? I'd love to hear what pushed you to this decision of all things."

Why did I have to explain to him, of all people, my decisions? I wouldn't, simple. I left his waiting hand doing just that, waiting.

My attention was caught be something in the corner of my eye, a sprinting figure. The figure came into my view every time it passed one of the ornate windows that surrounded the circular room. Another figure was in pursuit behind but she was of no interest at all to me. A sharp creak sounded the opening of the ancient doors again.

"Dad!" The figure screamed at me and launched herself across the room to smash into my body. I took her porcelain face into my hands and bent my knees to crouch near the ground.

"Renesmee..."

If she had not claimed me to be her dad, I doubted that I would have recognised her easily at all. Her rose tinted lips were swollen on one side, a bright red pulsing lump. Her cheekbones stuck out more than they should against her now sheet white skin. Her hair was matted with the remains of dried blood and scraped back into a tight knot on top of her head. Her chocolate eyes were now an intense, burning crimson and they were surrounded by a dark shadow of purple under her lower lid. Her arms were covered in spiked scars and silvery crescents that twisted in the flickering light. Her hands were shaking a little and her heart was beating fast, faster than it should. The sound reminded me of the buzz of hummingbird's wings.

"Ah, I do love reunions." Aro announced, raising his hands up into the air.

I slid my hands down from Renesmee's cheeks and pressed her cool body to mine, even when I did it so gently, it felt like she would snap into two in my arms at any moment.

I allowed myself to snarl quietly, trying not to scare my daughter when she was already so petrified. "What the hell have you done to her?"

Jane smiled and set her eyes upon the body in my arms. Renesmee jerked in under my grip several times but didn't let single sound escape those swollen lips. I spun around to face her away from the monster in the doorway and block her torturing stare that could bring even the strongest men to their knees. Bella was so determined to kill Jane; I couldn't help thinking that it would end the wrong way. Alice had seen something, flashes of different scenes that might emerge from the thick clouds looming over our future. The image of my wife lying dead beneath on the sandy ground of a clearing now haunted me every second of every minute. I wrapped my arms around Nessie tightly, shielding her from the danger, from the pain. The jumping stopped instantly releasing her mouth from its clamped position to take in small, staggered breaths. I braced myself for the pain Jane would inevitably shoot at me, but it didn't come. Later.

"That."

Jane's tinkling voice sparked something inside me like a match would with a thousand barrels of dynamite but I had to contain it, at least while I was with my daughter.

My cool lips felt natural against Renesmee's ice cold ear. No trace of the warmth that used to flood through her veins remained for me to feel, although the blood still flowed as strongly as it had before. "How did you manage not to scream?"

"Well, when you've had it done for twelve hours on the trot. You sort of get a hold of yourself." Her voice cracked. "I mean, it still hurts but..."

Twelve hours. Someone had just poured a thousand gallons of petrol of the raging fire in my heart. She'd been put through unbearable pain for twelve whole hours with no one to tell her what was happening, if she would be okay?

"That and a couple of little experiments, we didn't get chance to on that other half breed, Nahuel was it?" Jane spoke again, laughter in her voice. "He was so delicious. And she's been fed appropriately Edward, we haven't starved her."

"Jane, let us not push Edward's patience to its absolute limit." Caius warned, although he was still smiling. I believed it was too late for the warning he had given, I'd reached the limit of my patience with the Volturi years before this moment. It was much too late to save them from that.

Renesmee flinched away from the words she was throwing at me.

"I tried; I tried to stop myself..."

A warm droplet touched my cheek from hers and trickled down to hang precariously on the tip of my chin. I turned her face towards mine slowly with my fingertips. When I saw her expression it felt like the fire had freed itself from my heart and was burning all over my body now, punching its way through my skin. It was unbearable.

_Oh, Jane._ It seemed she couldn't wait to place that cloak of agony over my shoulders again. 

"Easy sis, you can have him for as long as you want later." Alec walked across the room to block the only doorway. I gripped Renesmee's hands in mine, as tight as I could without hurting her.

"Show me." I whispered. "Show me what they've done to you."

The vibrant coloured images flicked through at the back of my mind.

A set of razor teeth sinking into her skin again and again, the venom brought no pain more than that of the cuts as their lips drew the infected blood straight back out again, unnaturally sharp nails ripping through her trembling arms, bringing blood to the surface that sparkled like a thousand rubies, screeching screams bursting out from her prickled throat and fireworks of pain shooting through her body while the large audience watched on from above her. Some were laughing and grinning, some were watching with extreme interest and taking carefully scripted notes on the yellowed parchment that sat on their laps, but it seemed that there was no one with the slightest feeling or intention to help her or stop her suffering. Not one single person in the room had a conscience in their minds telling them that this wasn't right. Nothing to tell them that torturing a four year old continuously was sick but what else did I expect? The final thing she showed me was her meals, the soft, hot liquid running through all the veins in her body as she closed her lips around the girls' necks, the incredible flavour as the human blood ran over her tongue and the grasping addiction it brought, so tasty, so mouth-wateringly delicious.

I squeezed her hand tightly and then let it drop limply to her side. She stopped re-enacting her stay in her mind and the images snapped out of my vision.

"I am so sorry." My whisper was barely hearable over Renesmee's pumping heart. "I didn't know what they were going to do; we thought they were just keeping you, a hostage, not _this_."

She looked at me, eyes still so full of tears that the tiny droplets could flood the entire room if they overflowed.

"Mom..."

She was so like her mother, never bothered about herself and her feelings, only aware of the wellbeing of others around her.

"Yeah. Bella's not great love, she was frozen for nearly a day when you went; you broke her heart in two. Took quite a while to get her around." I managed to push a half-hearted smile into my expression. "Although she did smash our holiday villa up when that camera went off and you disappeared from us altogether."

Her mouth did not return it, instead she frowned deeper and a fresh set of tears traced the wet snaking trails on her cheek.

"Edward. You're making her cry." Aro walked over to us tutting. He placed his claw shaped hand on her heaving shoulder.

Renesmee pulled her sleeve over her wrist and dragged it across her cheek. She frowned as the scratchy, woven material crossed the scars and left her cheek covered in a dark red mark. Aro rested his hands on her shoulders. She was so vulnerable and delicate, so unbelievably Bella.

I _was_ making her cry. Honestly, I needed learn how to distinguish the difference between what was going on in my mind and what came out from between my lips. Aro's touch turned into a grip, he yanked Renesmee out of my arms onto the flag stoned floor in less than a second.

"Alec." Aro stepped back, tilting his head to one side, his eyes a hollow black.

Renesmee's knees scraped across the stones as she tried to scramble away from the approaching shapes that swooped down to catch her, too full of exhaustion to even stand. Alec bound his arms around her body and swept towards the door with her body pressed firmly against his chest.

"So feeble." He kicked the door open. "We've got you some humans Ness, don't worry."

_And then I'll suck it out of you again. _Jane added in her head, a new grin appearing on her angelic face. If ever the saying you cannot judge a book by its cover is appropriate, it would fit best in this situation as Jane was as far from an angel than anyone could possibly manage to imagine. At least that had explained why my daughter had suddenly become so weak. She'd been fed human blood regularly, the strongest supply of power for our kind, yet she had been so weak that I would have believed it if they had told me she hadn't eaten for over half a year - because Jane had been drawing all the strength away with her horrific talent.

Nessie screamed something so spine-tinglingly high pitched that I couldn't pick out any words, and the door slammed shut.

"Tell me Edward." Aro walked around me to sit back in his carved wooden throne and stared down with a genuinely curious expression. "Why did you come, when we weren't even going to kill Bella and Jane could not torture her? Yet, I have every reason to murder you and Jane has free reign of your mind."

"Instinct." I murmured.

A bellow of voices spoke in my head.

_What an idiot!_

_Good move Cullen, we can kill that Bella off while she's alone._

_This one is definitely in the bag._

The fire from my heart surged through my body furiously at the mention of Bella's name.

"Everything you do is about life or death, winning or losing, Aro! You don't care about feelings or emotions, only the final result of the bloody battle. No wonder you don't understand why I sacrificed myself to you for her!" I screamed at him and lunged forward towards them. "You will never, ever feel love in however long your sickly life goes on, Aro. You have your pointless wife, but she's no use to you. You're only interested in people who bring advantages to your guard! You feel only addiction and greed; you are a complete waste of a body and of a mind. I hope with my life, that you rot in hell when someone finally bumps you off and I hope with my life that that someone will be me."

Aro smiled with excitement at my anger, it was like he fed off anger, pain, and fear. Like some sort of life-sucking beast you hear of in a horror story. He flicked his hand towards me.

"You're welcome to fight me Edward." He whispered, perfectly calm as I snarled roughly again and again. "But I really would hate to have to kill you now, think of your daughter and oh, your so perfect little wife Bella. What your death would do to them is simply unimaginable..."

A dark circle of the guard was closing in around me, encasing me in inescapable danger. There was no hope in fighting and winning here, not with so many fighting against me and there was no point in anything suicidal for my families' sake, but most for Bella's sake, I could not take her life with my own foolishness, _that _was an unbearable thought. My hands were raised in surrender and defeat as the circle approached me further, all baring their gleaming teeth.

The dimness of the room – if you could call it a _room_, wasn't convenient at all. There were no luminous colours shouting out at me as a distraction to my thoughts, the so torturing thoughts. Only a thin stream of misted light squeezed itself through the iron grate above my head and hit the wall opposite where it reflected off several trickles of water and split into a thousand streaks of pearly shimmers. If I had any intention to break out and escape, I would not be in here. If I wanted to get out now, it would be only too easy to snap those bars, jump to the floor and run. However, I had been made a promise, if I left this room at all without being escorted, the neck of someone I loved would be snapped, no conditions. I wouldn't be worried at all about that threat simply for the fact that they would have to get past the whole of our group to murder any single member but the girl that they most likely would head for first was in their grip already. Four days had dragged themselves by so slowly it was painful. A small piece of rock crumbled onto my lap. Maybe I was pressing my face harder than I thought against the dripping stone wall that surrounded me. I pulled my face away, checking for any indentations where my head had been leant. There was nothing, nothing at all to suggest that I'd chaffed away the rock with excess pressure. I turned my head back to the door, studying the knots on the oak frame carefully. Someone was shouting at me but I'd been drowning it out completely along with all the other totally insignificant voices up until now.

_Please, just listen to me._

Ah, the voice wasn't being sounded out loud; it was being spoken in my mind. I slipped my gaze down to the wall nearer to the slimy floor; another chunk of rock had fallen away from the wall where a small crack had appeared between the sandy mortar. I pressed my fingertips against the brick and pressed lightly, it crumbled away into dust easily and my body slipped forward as my whole hand shot through.

_Brilliant, that's really unnoticeable dad._

Trust a daughter of Bella to be sarcastic in a situation like this; I didn't understand how that was even possible. Renesmee's skin brushed that of my hand as she placed something into it. Something cool and impeccably smooth; the pearls that I had swum down to the depths around Isle Esme for, the pearls I had given to my wife. I couldn't take them from her; she needed them. But I needed them, to remind me of the sole reason we needed to remain alive through the pain, I wanted to be reminded of that reason every minute of every day though she was impossible to forget. No. My hand touched hers again as I pushed them back at her, a shock of ice rippling through my veins.

_I can't keep them while, while I'm like this. I'm a killer right now, Cullen's are not killers. I am not a Cullen._

She was not a Cullen? Why was she blaming all this on herself, it was so frustrating!

My eyelids protested as I scrunched my forehead harder. "Renesmee, you will always be a Cullen."

A groan came from a mouth that most definitely was not hers. I retracted my hand from the hole and the pearls clattered to the ground as she forced them through.

She thrust her fingers through the opening after them to touch mine. The thoughts that echoed in her mind showed that she honestly believed this was the last time we would touch; either I or she would die before we could see each other again. Her little finger curled around mine tightly like a link in a chain, unbreakable through her struggling desperation not to leave me. But her hand slipped away and she was gone, leaving the necklace behind her on the stones. A familiar scent drifted into the room through the grate. I squashed my forehead against the iron grate, straining my eyes to see everything in the shaded courtyard that was set in the middle of the castle at the end of the tunnel that led from the bustling streets to the eerie silence of this ancient fort. A small group of people stood facing another group in the centre. I recognised the shockingly blonde hair of my father as the light shone of it from all directions creating rays of rainbow colours in the air. Beside him stood a smaller figure whose waist was surrounded by the arm of Carlisle, my mother obviously. My father was not at his usual place at the head of the triangle, instead a slim figure with a face that was beyond perfect and pale, radiant skin that shimmered every time she turned in the sunlight, took the helm.

My voice was a broken croak as I whispered her beautiful name. "Bella."

Her head snapped around, eyes searching for the source of the voice that had just called her name, her eyes were tormented but so viciously determined. As determined as always.


	11. Chapter 10

I desired so much to rip the bars from the wall and run to her, to take Bella into my arms and hold her so tightly that no one could ever take her away from me again. Being separated from her was so depressing that there seemed nothing left for me to live for but there was, there always would be if she was still alive. Only if she died would all purpose be lost. If I did what I craved for the most right now, my daughter would be killed horrendously; surely nothing could push me enough to cause that. Instead I just watched on through the rusted grate, taking in her beauty silently. Aro cleared his throat and her head snapped round reluctantly, leaving me to only absorb her elegance from behind.

Bella's voice rung through the air, full of tiresome impatience. "You know which way this is going to go Aro, so just give us a time and a place."

I repeated every syllable she spoke in my head over and over again so the pleasure that came with the sound of her voice never ceased, even when she had stopped speaking I had her wonderful tones still ringing through my ears.

Carlisle shivered at the thought of his family in this fight, a fight that could easily go either way and there was nothing he'd be able to do to stop that. Last time Jasper had been certain that we would easily be able to win and he had been absolutely right. However this time, all the odds possible were hanging against us.

"You could walk away from this completely unscathed Bella dear." Aro spoke clearly, not bothering to attempt to embrace her anymore. "Join us now and we won't harm _you_ at all. You have such extraordinary talent that you know we would welcome you with open arms."

Part of me longed to shout out to her, tell her to follow the Volturi so her life would be under no threat anymore. The Volturi's only true threat was us and nobody – family or friends, would harm Bella. No matter which path she decided to follow. Only, the sound of my voice would drive her even harder to get what she wanted, another motivation for her to demand a fight. She snorted and shifted her weight onto one foot. As I caught Demetri's thoughts, I saw Bella glaring at the group in front of her like a bag of trash on the pavement – disgusting and revolting.

"If you think I have any intentions to pull out of this, you've got another thing coming Aro."

Aro's face dropped. "If that's the case, I'm afraid we will have to make every effort to kill you in this fight, Bella dear. What a delight it will be to finally get a taste of that fragrance of yours, so irresistible."

I thwacked my foot against the wall, cringing as it sent a sharp crack echoing around the courtyard and made Bella start as she turned around again, searching desperately for a sight of me.

"If you're trying to escape from us Edward..." Aro turned his head to look up to an opaque window set into the wall above with hope. "You know the consequences."

A staggered scream shot through the air, interrupted by choked, strangled sounds. I whirled backwards to push my back firmly against the wall farthest from the grate as I recognised the tone.

"Stop, please stop hurting her, she's just a child!" Bella's voice shouted out, she was obviously aware of the fact that the scream was being released from the mouth of her helpless daughter.

"Thank you Edward, your cooperation is so very much appreciated by us."

The screaming stuttered to a silent halt and I was able to take a calming breath of the unnaturally dry air, the air of a strangling drought.

"Where do you wish to carry this deed out Bella, dear?"

Bella took a deep breath and twisted to face Carlisle who stood directly behind her, urging him to speak as he knew the geography of this area far better than she did from his previous life inside these castle walls.

"The forest below Guascovi, I believe it's plenty out of the way of unsuspecting humans."

Esme's eyes swung around as Carlisle spoke, searching the windows and historic arrow slits for any sight of me or her baby granddaughter.

Demetri nodded stiffly, "When, or is there no preference from you?"

"Nine-oh-clock on the dot, tomorrow." Bella stated. "When night falls, that is."

"That suits us fine." Aro smiled innocently. "How many are you planning on bringing may I ask?"

What was this, some sort of friendly football match? The frustration of listening without being able to fire back any of my own answers or intimidations was so annoying that my fingers had already made several small indentations in the rock.

Bella spoke again, this time with a hint of humour in her unsteady voice. "What could possibly make you believe that I would actually tell you that? You can carry on trying to weed yourself into our cracks to break us apart, but there's something that you don't understand about all of us. Something you'll probably never have understood in your life. We are a family, and we stick together. There is no way you're going to be able to split us up or figure us out, so just drop that plan Aro because I would give my life to save any member of my family, and I will do, I swear I will do. You just watch."

"You promised." I hissed through my teeth. "You promised me Bella."

No, not that. Bella could be so unbelievably difficult in the most amazing way possible. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for any member of the group she'd be fighting with was so admirable, yet it was the worst thing I could possibly think of happening. She couldn't even think about doing this to herself! She whispered to me, although she was still not aware of my location in the vast castle that surrounded her. A voice was edgy, a little hysterical.

"Promises can be broken Edward and I did have my fingers crossed."

_Damn. _Trust her to find a way around that promise, a way to squeeze herself through my protections. A way to get herself killed while I was locked up unable to prevent her. Promises and compromises with Bella seemed all to turn out either totally pointless - or deadly.

"See you then." Aro whispered. Talking more like this was a casual meeting at a cafe for iced tea and a brownie rather than a potentially suicidal battle.

"See you then." Bella snarled in a way that sounded much like she was saying 'Bring it on'.

Why did she have to be so arrogant at a time like this, when her life and her soul were at serious risk? And what made it worse, was that she was putting her life at risk because I had been too weak to let her go with them that day, if I had just let them take her then she would be nowhere near this fight, nowhere near the danger, although I thoroughly doubt she would have stayed in this cell on her own accord. Especially if I was planning to commit such a petrifying act as she was. Or was I too strong for my own good, too mentally strong that I was able to make these decisions without having second thoughts. Without thinking about what all of this would truly come to in the future...

I had made these decisions for her welfare, for my families' welfare, yet the world still had to decide that once again however hard I tried to fight for her, there would be plenty of ways for Bella to still find trouble through all of my attempts to shield her from it. She spun around sending ripples of her fragrance through the still air, and stormed towards the entrance to the shaded passageway. I slid back towards the grate moving at the same speed as she did.

"Bella, don't do this to yourself."

She shuddered as I spoke, not turning round to face the wall like she did before but just freezing on the spot and balancing precariously on one foot. I could barely hear her when she spoke.

"For you."

No! If anything, she couldn't do this for me. That was disgusting!

A breeze swept through the air, brushing more of Bella's extraordinary scent towards me. As it touched my senses my body reacted like it would to a thousand shots of espresso. A surge of electric energy suddenly taking over my heart and my mind, the grate shattered under my grip. _That_ made her finally turn around. Her eyes locked on mine for a second, a second that would last a hundred thousand eternal lifetimes if I had my way. A shuddering shriek of sadness or anger exploded from her mouth as she saw my expression and she ran into the darkness of the tunnel, dragging her hands across her glowing face. Carlisle and Esme followed quickly behind with their arms open wide to catch her, to comfort her.

My mouth was suddenly as dry as the dust below. "No, love..."

Bella's voice echoed out from the passage, bouncing off the sandy walls to reach me for what she intended to be the last time.

"I love you!"

Then they were gone, only their scents lingering in the air. Bella was going to sacrifice herself for another; she was going to get herself killed for me, and she was going to get herself killed tomorrow.

No, not after all of this, all she's been through, she couldn't do this to herself. I wouldn't let her, but how could I stop her when I was being held here with the threat of my daughter being killed if I even dared to escape?

I had to stop her. My daughter's life for my wife's. For Bella, that might just be a price I would be willing to pay, to save her life from those vermin.

I slammed my head against the wall adjacent to the grate, knocking the slabs back a couple of inches with my force. I was so sick! How could I think of sacrificing my daughter for my own wretched benefit? Sacrificing her life just to protect my love's life and soul and carry on feeding my hopeless addiction to Bella's presence. The last thing on earth I wanted to happen was Bella disappearing forever, the last thing I would do to stop that was cause my own daughter's death, why was there so many tormenting complications! Or was I sick, for not trying harder to guard and protect both of them from reality?

"Edward, I'd prefer it if you didn't ruin the walls." Aro sighed as he appeared out of thin air to stand by my side. "This building is something of great ancient architecture."

I let a growl escape my lips. Aro just smiled.

"I just came to check that you don't think we're leaving you unguarded tonight when we leave." He leaned around to catch a glimpse of my face and then frowned as he met my eyes. "Edward, I won't let her suffer, I'll give you my promise that if I'm the one to kill her which I very much hope for, it will be so quick that she'll feel absolutely nothing. I'll snap her neck; it will be a quick death. You must remember that Edward."

My voice was an unsteady stutter. "If I were you, I'd get out before I lose my patience and kill you right here, right now."

"As you wish, have good night Edward."

The latch of the door clicked shut behind and a grating sound let me know that I was locked inside once again and the darkness of the night began to leak through the grate, eating up the daylight sunshine along with every single drop of hope that remained in my dying heart.

They'd left over four hours ago for the battle ground, they being just about the whole entire guard along with faces I'd never set sight on in all my life but that looked just as papery and ancient as Aro's. Bella had been so certain that our forty one, now forty, would be enough to have a decent chance but when I'd seen the group that was gathered in the darkness of the courtyard earlier on – hoods draped over all of their heads and eyes glinting with the excitement of the lives they would get to end in hours, there had been far over what we would have. Even if everyone had decided to turn up and throw their fate into the fire. From all I could hear, they had only left a couple of insignificant acquaintances behind to hold fort and they were gathered in the central chamber and positioned outside where Renesmee was locked up just in case I did decide to run for the horizon. They all seemed sufficiently distracted by their heated discussions on why they had not been taken to fight for me to get at least one opportunity to get out. This was my chance, possibly my last chance I would ever get to save Bella. This all seemed so easy, too easy! The Volturi were so incapable of understanding what drives us, so ignorant that they only concentrating their efforts on the fight that would happen tomorrow. I'd have to kill all the men they'd left behind first if all was going to go to plan, but that shouldn't be too hard. If these young immortals had any spectacular talent at fighting, they would be on their way to the clearing below Guascovi.

I locked my hands on the steel bolt and twisted hard; it snapped easily between my fingers and clattered to the floor. Candle flames that flickered in the dark made the walls of the corridors appear distorted as I strode down them towards my destination. The central chamber was my first stop, hidden deep inside the ancient walls. That was the place that they'd taken Alice, Bella and I to all those years ago and the place where I had so nearly seen Bella's life slip away from her in front of my eyes that the image in my head still ripped me up even now. The voices of the three men left behind in the chamber became louder in my head and louder in reality - still a pointless, rambling debate on the same matter.

"I still don't see why Aro didn't decide to take us, with the numbers it would be a breeze." One man's voice spoke in annoyance from behind the door.

"We have to hold up here Liam, the Cullens are not the only opposing coven out there."

He was correct. I could strongly and safely bet that there were so many more people who wished to see all of these horrific bodies burning into ash.

I pushed open the door. They looked up from their discussion, startled, so unready it was unreal.

"Hello gentlemen." I snarled, curling my lips back over my teeth.

It hadn't taken long to eliminate them all – including the mindless guards stood outside the door of Nessie's chamber. A mere couple of seconds and all their necks were snapped, bodies burning on the fire that lapped silently in the marble fireplaces. They'd been so unprepared I could not believe my luck, no training, no traps, no nothing. Or did they want me to escape, so I could give my life to them fighting as well? Escape so I could stand and watch in horror as my wife's shattered body was burned away on a fire.

Renesmee was asleep now Jane had left; she was so exhausted that I could not understand why she hadn't collapsed earlier. I snapped the bolt on her door too, and stepped inside the circular room where she had been kept. This room was more civilised than my two metre wide cell, a bed was set to one side and a full, patterned window took up one section of the walls. She lay on her back with her legs pulled right up to her chest in the centre of the bed, her arms shaking viciously and eyelashes wet with recent tears.

"Nessie."

She jumped as I brushed her face with my hand, her eyes sliding open.

"Dad, we have to get out of here, the fight. It's not safe." She spoke too fast, panicked.

I nodded, wrapping my arms around her and hoisting her up onto my knee.

"I'll get _you_ somewhere safe first, and then I have to go to Bella."

Her forehead creased in confusion. "Somewhere safe?"

"Renesmee, _you_ are not fighting. For one we have never taught you how to and these are no idiotic and inexperienced newborns wanting a brawl. Two, you are far too young to even think of going near this, and three, you're so weak right now Renesmee." I placed her chest against my ear to hear the staggered unsteady thrumming of her heartbeat. "You're so brave, but right now is not the best time for your bravery, darling. I know you're in pain and I know you've been hurt so many times so please don't take this opportunity to do what your mother is trying to do now, because there's only one thing worse than losing Bella, it's losing both of you." I dropped my arms to see her face. She stared at me blankly, like I was asking her to tie me to a stake in the middle of a fierce, raging fire and stand back to watch me die. Then smiled ironically, her voice was full of comical disbelieve.

"You want me to stay here and wait, while you are fighting the deadliest coven there is out there. Stay put doing nothing while my whole family are getting slaughtered by them!" She shrieked.

I clenched my teeth and nodded. "We're not going to get slaughtered. I want you to be safe Nessie."

She ignored that sentence as if it had never been spoken.

"You can't stop me."

I let go of her arms and looked into her flaming crimson irises. "Is it going to have to come to that?"

She didn't answer my question. Instead she shot towards the doorway and disappeared around the corner to run down the marble floored corridor. Thank god she was so predictable. Even without the aid of Alice's talent I could very easily guess her next move, much unlike her mother; I could read Renesmee like a book. I stepped out from the room, following her steps around a bend in the corridor where the heavily bolted door I'd locked earlier blocked her way. Her clammy hands slid across the metal with the last of her energy before her knees buckled and she fell towards the floor, my hands were already there.

"I have to fight. You have to let me fight!"

I raised one eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"I _have_ to, please dad."

She would never _have_ to do anything in her life, especially anything at all to do with what would happen tomorrow. I wouldn't let her near it because if she was injured, or – killed so easily amidst those horrendously sick-minded barbarians, I would never forgive myself for letting her be within even a hundred mile radius of this fight.

I flung my arms around her waist and swung her up into the murky air, tracing my steps back to the circular room. I'd sat her back on the bed before she'd realised what I was doing.

"No!" Her legs swung over the edge of the bed. "I am going with you."

I set my arms firmly on her shoulders so my fingers curled around her bony shoulders. "Someone will come back for you so soon, I promise."

"Someone..." She gripped weakly to my shirt. "You can't go. You can't leave me here."

I had to go; if I had any choice at all I would stay with her and build her strength again. It killed me a little inside every time I got a sight of her face now, so pained, so frail.

"I will always love you." I pressed my lips to her forehead, still gripping her trembling shoulders tightly. "You will never, ever be alone."

I released my grip and slid quickly towards the door, knowing that if I saw her expression again now, it may convince me to stay here in Volterra. The bolt grated as I pushed it across as far as it would go, the door locked into place. A small thud came from the other side, inevitably her body trying to force its way through but in her state, there was no chance she'd be able to escape.

"You'll never be alone." I repeated, turning to head down the corridor again. A shiver ran down my spine as she screamed and then burst into a fit of tears, but I _had _to go, or Bella would die.

The warm air of outside hit me in the face like a brick wall, a massive contrast to the cool shadows of the castle. I pulled the hooded cloak around me off; I didn't need it in this level of darkness and began to walk across the cobbles; slowly at first to avoid unnecessary attention from the bustling humans who still crowded the town. Then, when the narrow streets opened up to wide, dusty fields I began to walk a little faster, breaking out into a sprint when I was far enough away that I would appear just a speck to those who happened to be watching. In the distance, a thin road ran through the brown of the dust, snaking its way up to another mound, although there was no town on this hill. Instead a vast forest of vibrant greens that stuck out like a sore thumb against its surroundings, our battle ground. I squinted harder through the dark to see the details clearer. The greens flowed evenly right up to the horizon, it would far big enough to hide our actions, and any human who crossed the path of the fight in a forest this size would be extremely unlucky. A crisscross of scents hung in the air, the large majority of them heading over to the East side of the mound, Guascovi and the rest led into the darkness of the trees, the ones I needed to follow before it was too late for my presence to do any help at all. The winding trails didn't last for long, only venturing a little into the trees and then meeting other extremely familiar scents. I stepped carefully over the fallen branches and scattered leaves that had shrivelled up into little more than brown clumps, towards the quiet sounds ahead, the gentle but severe voices of my family.


	12. Chapter 11

Hey, I have put any authors notes before because I couldn't work out how to edit things if that is possible. So if anyone knows, please tell me on a review!

So, if you've got this far, I hope you're enjoying reading my fan fiction! It's the first thing I have ever wrote seriously and completed. Here is the climaaaax...!

luucycoupee

A fire lapped gently around a small pile of wood to the left of the gathering, lighting up the darkness so it was possible to see easily. I didn't need that light at all, not because of my eagle vision but because I already had a blazing beacon lighting my life again and banishing the darkness I'd been plunged into for the past couple of torturing days. Bella was stood with her back to me in the centre of the clearing with a small group of people. Though I did not focus on any of these, all my attention was completely drawn to the incredible girl opposite me.

"Were you seriously going to do something like that to yourself, Isabella Marie Cullen?" I whispered, trying to keep my voice gentle but failing completely. Why I had bothered to use her full name I did not know, it just seemed more appropriate for something this life threateningly serious.

Esme's hand shot to her mouth as she looked up, Carlisle spun around, totally calm as per usual and Alice smiled a little smugly, dancing around my wife twice in a circular motion.

"I told you he would find a way to stop you Bella." She mouthed, before gliding over to stand beside me. "Where's Renesmee?"

"Still at the castle up at Volterra, I locked her in because she wanted to fight." I hissed, wanting to get to my point. "She's so weak Alice, it was so nearly impossible to leave her."

She leaned in front of me to peer into my eyes which, as I saw in her mind, were misted and blank. "Are you alright Edward? We're doing this tomorrow so I think it's best if you're ..."

I held up my hand in front of Alice's face to stop her ramble and repeated myself again; she turned and slid silently into the trees to find Jasper before her time with him ran out.

"Were you seriously going to do something like that to yourself, Isabella Marie Cullen?"

She swivelled around reluctantly; the look in her liquid golden eye told me that her answer to my question was a definite _yes _but she looked so upset that I couldn't bear to argue or debate anything with her. I ran over to her and thrust my arms around her hips, hoisting her up into my arms so her lips could reach mine easily. The flavour of her fragrance was just as perfect as before, surging along my veins like an electric current. Her kiss was full of ferocity, but didn't last at all as long as I expected it to, Bella being Bella, she could have made it last forever and ever.

"Would you though, Isabella?"

She opened her eyes and sighed, a slightly annoyed expression on her face which was probably triggered by my use of her full name yet again. "Yes."

I shook my head and planted my lips on her neck, sliding them up to kiss her behind her ear.

"They're coming." Alice snarled as she ran over, pulling Jasper from his arm behind her. "Right now, lots, they definitely have the numerical advantage."

"What?" Bella shouted from my arms while attempting to peel off my hands to free herself from my grip, like that was going to happen. "We aren't even ready!"

How Volturi like, trying to ambush their targets, playing dirty. They'd said nine o'clock tomorrow; I think I was the only one here who thoroughly doubted that they would stick to that deadline when they could attempt to gain a larger advantage for their side. No one was bothered about the honour of winning a fair fight; they just wanted us all dead, burnt into ashes and wispy smoke.

"How long Alice?" I whispered, my voice breaking on her name, a name of someone who may not exist physically in person after tonight but she would always exist in memory, she was too unforgettable to be lost with death. Our side _was_ going to have casualties, but I couldn't bring myself to think of the names of those who may be lost, or that one name that if destroyed - would bring my own death with no exceptions whatsoever.

"Three minutes."

I choked and clutched Bella more tightly to my chest. Three minutes left, I could have only three minutes left with her before it started and we were either decimated or completely slaughtered.

"Edward, if I have we have that little time I think we'd better get ready, now." Bella hissed, though it obviously pained her to say so. "Or this is just going to be even worse for us."

That was my queue to put her down; I didn't know whether I could bear to let her go. Why couldn't I just take her and Renesmee and run from the danger? Save Bella's life and possibly Renesmee's because if no one survived from our side and the Volturi returned to her, I had a very hard feeling that she wouldn't wish to stay alive for long when her every bit of hope of finding one of us had been drained by her captors. Bella straightened up as I set her down, spinning quickly to re-find my face as if the pain of being apart from the sight of it was too much to bear. I know that was what it was like for me.

"I'm so sorry it's come to this Bella, I will love you for all of eternity whatever the outcome of tonight."

"We're going to die, aren't we?" She murmured, clutching my hand. Her mouth was turned into a frown, though it was hanging open like she had so much to tell me, to ask me.

That was so typical Bella, ever the pessimist, but I had to agree with her because the outlook for us wasn't looking so good from any perspective. I didn't answer her question; instead I just stared helplessly at the floor.

"Edward, Bella, it's time." Carlisle spoke clearly, walking through the group of trees ahead.

I followed him, stepping slowly over the dry, shrivelled leaves that littered the floor. When the trees opened again it was into a much larger clearing, shadowed even more in the pitch darkness by a towering cliff that met the thick forest on the left. A loop of people was beginning to form from the muddle of our friends and family, the ones risking their lives with us. I recognised everybody who'd witnessed for us about Renesmee's harmlessness four years ago, leaving a group of girls whose faces fit with no names in my mind. Overall there were nine of them; all had perfect skin and beautiful faces like anyone else of our kind. That was a huge boost on our numbers – another flicker of chance that some of us might survive. From their thoughts I indentified the tall, slender girl stood furthest from me to be the leader of this new coven. She had dark blonde hair that was tucked neatly into a bun at the back of her head and her perfect face seemed kind and warm to me. None of them seemed ferocious enough to even be near this fight but as the old saying said, you must never judge a book by its cover. I turned my head to the side to catch Carlisle's eye and raised one eyebrow inquisitively.

'_That's Ella,' _he announced in his head. 'She is a_n extremely good friend of Tanya's. Ella and her coven are nomads in Western Europe. They've never come across the Volturi personally before but they would do anything for anybody. Although their diet isn't vegetarian like ours, their hearts are made of solid gold. All of them, Ella, Annie, Emma, Nicola, Linda, Alexia, Zoe, Elise and Sara are willing to give their lives for us – incredible.' _

It was incredible that these total strangers to our family were throwing their lives into the deadly hands of fate. As I turned back Carlisle continued to speak to me in his head, identifying each one by name as my eyes fell on them. Next to Ella were three females of very similar heights. The first had impeccably straight hair that hung down her back and a stunning face. Both the second and third girls had similar figures and the same length hair that waved down to their waists. One had near white skin and strawberry blonde hair, the other darker skin and dark hair – the dark skinned girl reminded me very much of Zafrina and Senna. She seemed the only one out of the nine that looked like there might be a hint of fighting spirit hidden somewhere underneath the beauty. Carlisle identified these three as Emma, Nicola and Linda. The other five girls were stood closer to me and further away from the fast approaching danger. A small delicate looking girl who looked barely sixteen stood with another small female whose smile would light up an entire city. If we weren't sentenced to die for a second time it would have made a smirk appear on my face. These two Carlisle informed me were Sara and Elise whom Ella had found first on her farfetched travels around the globe after her transformation. Finally, the group of three girls clutching each other's hands tightly were unveiled to me as Annie, Alexia and Zoe - three natural cousins from England that Ella had changed herself. It was hard to believe that they were related at all. One had dark red hair, another thick, brown hair and the last lighter hair somewhere in between brown and blonde. There were no signs of their chain of hands breaking anytime soon; I knew exactly how they were feeling. That conversation had taken all of ten seconds in my head and Bells had noticed my bout of silence.

"Are they fighting?" She whispered.

I spun Bella around so that her body was pressed firmly against mine and ran my fingertip across her cheekbone and then down to her deep red lips that were turned into a frown of despair.

"Yes," I murmured, her sadness made it so hard for me to speak. Whatever she felt seemed to change my behaviour almost instantly. I remembered her comment from earlier and whispered something into her ear. "If you do die, I'll meet you in heaven Bella."

"Would you meet me in hell, I think I may be sent there..." She pressed her forehead to mine so the gap between our eyes was less than an inch, that suited me absolutely fine.

"I would, of course I would. But you will never go to hell Bella; I haven't met anyone more, more good-willed than you in my entire life." How could she think that she of all people would end up burning in hell, after all she'd sacrificed for others? She fought to protect Jacob's feelings although it killed her to do so a lot of the time, she had fought to protect my feelings in every way possible and nearly killed herself for her own daughter's birth. "Could you do something for me, love, seen as you've gone back on your other promise?"

She sighed and closed her eyes so her black lashes rested on her ivory skin.

"I've given up on promises."

I ignored her. "Bella, if I happen to die in this, I don't want you to kill yourself under any circumstances. If you did you would be tearing so many lives apart as well as your own so please, don't. Just because I'm gone, it doesn't mean your life has to be over as well."

"Edward, if _you_ die, which you most certainly won't because I won't let anyone kill you today - I will take down as many of them as possible but then I will join you wherever you've gone. So don't try and stop me because it isn't going to work." She spoke with confidence but I could see the agony and fear that was buried in her gleaming eyes.

"Bella..."

There was no use in arguing with her, she would only win or persuade me into some sort of stupid compromise again, like the compromise that took her life away from her, and it wasn't even the one that was meant to. I couldn't agree to something as stupid as that ever again, if we still had forever. Instead I locked my mouth on hers like before, breathing in her delicate fragrance again and again. Her skin felt so natural against mine and her face fit perfectly around my features, like our bodies were made for each other. Maybe they were, but it wasn't written for us to be together. I could have left, that first day I desired for the taste of her blood, she would have lived happily as a human and never have even thought of the possibility of an unnatural world like this at all. She would have died like a human should after a life fulfilling her wishes before she met me, and I would have never, ever hurt her or made her face anything like this in her entire life.

I pushed my hand into the nape of her neck, bringing her face closer. As I did so she jumped up so that her legs were wrapped around my back, she maintained her upright balance by gripping the sides of my face with both hands.

I rolled my face forwards to press my forehead to hers again. She opened her stunning eyes slowly, taking a deep breath.

"They're so close." Alice spoke harshly. "I could burn them all."

I walked over to where everyone else had assembled, familiarising myself with all the recognisable faces again, we had forty-one in total that were fighting, but as Alice had said, we would be outnumbered. Bella still clung tightly to my face.

"Are you scared?" She whispered.

I wouldn't lie, because when I had so little time left to be with her, there was no point in doing so.

"Yes. Are you?"

She bit her lip and nodded, glancing towards the Northern end of the clearing where a soft breeze swept the leaves that rested on the ground twisting away into the darkness. It was time. I set Bella on her feet but kept her hand in an iron grip while glancing around the circle, looking at all the people whose lives could be lost in a matter of minutes. Carlisle took his place on my left hand side with Esme as we stood facing into the black of night.

"It's time." Alice hissed.

Everyone turned slowly to face one side of the clearing and as I did, I caught sight of Jacob. He was stood alone, his arms were hanging either side of his body and his eyes were flat, black, and deadly.

A set of black shapes began to emerge from the edge of the open space, drifting slowly closer.

"Aro." Carlisle snarled as the first figures faces became recognisable. Something I had very rarely heard come out of my father's mouth.

Aro smiled weakly, his eyes flickering across us all, counting us up. "Carlisle, I'm sorry it's going to end this way, friend. You shouldn't be made to fight, it is not who you are, it isn't fair."

"I do not like to fight Aro, you are correct." Carlisle pulled Esme closer to his side so that his lips were brushing her hair. "But when someone is threatening to harm my family or my friends, I would do absolutely anything to stop them from doing so no matter how unpleasant the consequences for me."

A second row of silhouettes came out from the forest behind the first line, followed by a third. A third! How many had they brought to eliminate us, were we really that much of a challenge? Aro's thin lips turned up into a smirk as he finally realised the obvious, we were outnumbered, by far.

Bella pushed her lips together into a firm line, her forehead burrowing in concentration.

"Bella, are you okay?"

"They're attacking; it's hard to keep this over everyone when there are so many to watch." She whispered through her frustration. "It's Jane mainly, I can feel her stabbing at the surface, and she's trying to get to you. Like that's going to happen..."

Her shield, obviously. Of course she'd be attempting to protect every single person on our side all at once while she was fighting. An impossible task if she wished to stay alive.

"Bella, when it starts, you're going to have to let go darling. You can't leave yourself unprotected physically." I pressed my mouth to her cheek. "I'm not having you die."

"I know."

"Good, I'll be with you all the way love; I won't leave you for a single second."

She smiled as she saw Jane's annoyed expression then shouted out to her through the awkward silence that hung over the clearing. "That foiled your little plan didn't it Jane, hmm?"

"That wasn't a plan Bella, just checking if you're on guard today or if you're too absorbed in her husband to even care about fighting at all." She laughed, her tinkling voice making Bella scowl further.

I rocked back on my heels, rubbing my hands up and down Bella's arm to keep her calm. The three lines began to merge into one, one loop around the clearing, we were surrounded and outnumbered, and the outlook wasn't looking the slightest bit better.

"Who's going to start this?" Jacob snarled, still in his human form. "Because it's my centre of the world you've got locked up, tortured."

Aro turned his head quickly to the side raising one curled eyebrow but it was Jane who spoke.

"So you're the one she won't shut up about when she's asleep, it's driving me mad." She grinned wickedly, skipping around her silent twin to get a better view and then grimacing in disgust. "You're a wolf! What a true idiot she is."

I let a rumbling growl slip, instinctively pulling Bella behind me although I knew that couldn't protect her from this danger now. If she was sensible she wouldn't need protecting for them; now she was like me. But she wasn't sensible and she did need protecting, from herself and her own mind. Her sense of determination to do all the wrong things often neared fatality.

"I think it's time we got this over and done with, my friends." Aro whispered, walking forward in sync with the rest of the circle so it began to close in around us. "I'll let you take the first move."

"My pleasure." Jacob bellowed, his body shaking viciously from head to toe.

At that moment several things happened at once. The group of wolves burst out into their supernatural forms, shaking their fur loose of the scraps of clothes they'd snapped as they transformed, the circle around us closed in further and the group of us in the middle crouched so low that I think it was impossible to go any lower towards the dry grasses of the meadow. The wolves were the first to take a move of course; all ten of them sprang into the air, setting the whole clearing into a state of action, viciously fatal action.

Bella shot off into the mass of people, towards a certain target, a target I was sure of the identity of. I would follow her, of course. But she slipped out of my sight immediately as a body lunged in front of me, the huge lumbering mass of Felix.

"Rematch number three, Edward."

I curled my lips over my teeth, baring them as an intimidation but he just smiled on, amused at my useless attempt to scare him off.

_Left._

I slid to the right, avoiding his huge grasping hands by a mere millisecond.

_Right._

His body jerked to the right just after I darted to the left, dodging around him into the blur of people behind. Emmett bundled past me, heading straight to Felix with a lopsided smirk on his face that just craved for violence. I glanced around at the blurs, trying to identify who was who without much success. Small fires burned around the edges of the clearing although the heavy incense of burning bodies had not entered the air yet, so no casualties, yet.

I caught Jacob leaping at a spinning blur over to the left, and Aro and my father in a complicated dance. I could not see the rest of my family or friends but I would know if any were injured or killed by tuning into the voices that screamed in my head. At the moment, the voices were screaming instructions to their bodies; move left or move right, twist or turn, dive or lunge, fight – or run.

My mind was already filled with so many buzzing thoughts that it was hard to find a space to think about fighting now, or keeping aware of my own safety. An object flew into my legs at unbelievable speed, knocking my feet from underneath me so my back snapped against the floor.

"Hmm, the young one." A voice murmured as a set of arms locked down on my shoulders, pinning them to the ground. "Ah, Edward Cullen, of course! Bit lost in your own mind were we? Or too busy fiddling through everyone else's? "

I had never met this person before, a young man, older than myself but younger than Carlisle. His hair was a deep auburn colour and his eyes were a vicious scarlet, as I tensed my body he smiled in amusement and enjoyment. He was obviously one of the Volturi guard, only they enjoyed hurting others so much. I locked my hands around his wrists and tried desperately to dislodge his hands from my arms unsuccessfully.

I threw my weight onto one side of my body, slipping out easily from beneath his grip. The young man joined me immediately as I stood upright and then I swung into a crouch, winding my muscles like a spring so they were ready to jump. He seemed just as inexperienced as the boys I had faced back at Volterra, what sort of scum were they recruiting nowadays? It should be an easy fight but I'd learnt by now to not make predictions, because the future can always change, and it will no matter how hard you believe against it.

He took the first move, twitching his body to both sides, feigning. I locked my arms around his neck as he stepped forward right into my path. I picked up his name by the shouts of despair from some of the filthy minds around me.

"Sorry, Samuel but you seemed to have picked the wrong side to fight for." My voice was a hiss.

I lifted his chin slowly with my left hand while pressing my nails into his neck as far as they would go into the cool marble surface. His attempts to escape were useless under my grip, however hard he kicked, it wouldn't break him free. I leant my mouth towards his neck so my lips were brushing the smooth rock of his skin. Then it only took a second, my teeth shot through his skin as I ripped at his throat. His mouth opened to let out a high pitched noise, but I didn't hear it over the other voice that shot through the clearing. Unrecognisable to the rest of the fighters but a voice I could pick out from a million.

"Edward! Edward, help!" The second mention of my name choked off into a strange gurgle amongst all the other voices around me.

I ripped of the arm of the boy in my grips and tossed it into the raging fire beside me along with the rest of his dismembered body then sprung into the air. If she was in danger, if she was already - I would never forgive myself. No matter how frequently she or anyone else reminded me of the fact that I couldn't protect her every minute of every day because I could, but I didn't and Bella was the sort of person that required me to.

I shoved my way through the weaving mass, avoiding the grasping hands of my somewhat overly predictable enemies. Nothing would stop me from reaching her now.

"Bella, Bella, Bella." I stumbled over her name as I ran; rounding the cliff face where her bewitching scent led me, in less than a single second. A white chunk flew past my head and smashed into the rock face followed by another sharp crunching sound and a blood curdling scream. I spun around.

Jane had Bella in her grip so she was pressed against the floor, in her control. She was twisting at her limbs like they were parts of some sort of children's puzzle box, beaming like a Cheshire cat who got the cream. Another chunk hit the cliff face behind me, sending a crack through the pointed stone and another scream into the air. Jane's head snapped up as she became aware of my presence from the echoing sound that escaped my mouth. I don't know how you would describe it; a scream, a snarl or something indescribable because of the amount of agony that filled it.

"Oh, great." Jane murmured, springing lightly to her feet. Bella remained on the floor, eyes squeezed firmly shut, if I hadn't known she was one of us, I would say she looked dead. One of her arms had the lower half missing, leaving an edge that looked like she'd frozen it in liquid nitrogen and then shattered it so it broke away into a hundred pieces. That would be something Bella would find a way of doing, knowing her luck. And as I glanced at her waist, it looked like an animal had torn off a chunk for their meal leaving a spiked surface behind. I couldn't breathe.

"I suppose I can always come back for her." Jane smiled and then turned and shot back around the rock to join the main action, giggling. "Such an easy target!"

I had so much of an urge to follow her, hunt her down until I saw her dead. That devilish mind needed to be destroyed before it could torture anyone else. Only, when my wife was hurt she became my only priority, my priority that rose over anything else in the world, even ensuring the continuation of my own life.

"Bella, oh god, no Bella..." I stepped across the gap between us in two strides, or leaps, dropping to my knees when I reached her. "Bella, please say you're alright, please..."

She pressed her remaining hand to where a chunk had been torn away, letting out a low groan that trembled in the middle.

"Bella, please open your eyes, I can't stand it."

She frowned and scrunched her eyes tighter together; it seemed a struggle for her to even speak.

"When you see what I'm feeling, you throw yourself into an overreaction and – I can't hide from you, what I'm feeling, I can't hide it in my eyes."

So she was feeling something I would be upset about, pain over anything. I stroked my fingers across her neck gently; afraid of causing more pain though I knew I would inflict anything close to that on her again in my entire lifetime, unless it was for the same reason that I was going to have to hurt her now – to save her life. "Bella, you can't hide anything from me, you're a rubbish actress and a rubbish liar."

"I know I am." She whispered.

"Bella, please, you don't know how unbearable it is to be in the dark about you."

I prised her lids apart with my fingers, unable to wait any longer, and the look in her eyes completed her expression. It was full of so many things that I didn't know which was the strongest, her physical pain, disappointment, desperation or the sheer agony.

"I will kill her."

"See."

I pushed myself up of the ground, bounding over to the rock face where Jane had thrown the pieces. The arm she'd ripped away from Bella's body was slowly dragging itself towards where she lay and the other porcelain lump was set on the ground. I scooped both up into my arms and stepped back towards Bella.

She gave me an odd look that morphed into a grimace from the pain. "How exactly do you fix _that_?"

"I am going to fix _you _with my venom, Bella."

The edge where her arm was broken away was sharp under my tongue. I slid it swiftly across the whole surface to let my venom cover it and then pressed the broken piece to the cracks so it fit perfectly. Bella shifted on the ground, wriggling away from me, her eyes bulging.

"It's burning Edward!" She screamed.

"I know, it's my venom love, but I promise you it will only last for two minutes at the most."

I bent over to her waist, pressing her body to the ground with both hands to stop her from escaping from me. One thing I would never usually stop her from doing. When and if she wished to leave me, I would make no effort to physically stop her. Beg her, probably, but I didn't own her, she was free to do whatever she wanted. I put my head to her skin around her waist and slid my tongue across the rough surface there to cover that too.

"Edward, it's burning! It's killing me!"

The other marble piece fit perfectly in place again; I pressed my hand to it to try and mute the pain she would be feeling.

"It's not killing you, I would never allow that. You know I would never let that happen to you. I'm sorry Bella, I'm so sorry..."

I couldn't bear to see her in pain, that night when James had so nearly killed her and I'd seen her lying on that floor, covered in broken glass shards and soaked in her own blood, the days when she was in intense pain at ours, wasting away because of _me_, those memories were so haunting that they tore my heart apart when I saw them, ripping and ripping at some sort of invisible bond that I knew someday would have to snap when her life was finally over and when it snapped, I would too.

"IT'S BURNING!"

I lifted her body off the ground, pressing her closer to my chest and sliding my fingers along the appearing scars where the cracks faded away.

"Mom?"

No, she couldn't be here; she was too weak when I'd left her to break through all of that, the doors, the bolts, the grates. It was too dangerous; she didn't know how to fight, never mind how to fight when you were extremely outnumbered and facing people with actual skill. She just couldn't be here – but she was.

My daughter was stood on top of the cliff, her head snapping from side to side, flicking between the fight, or Jacob on her right and Bella on her left.

"Renesmee, get out of here, now." I intended to shout but it came out as a feeble whisper. Bella shifted again in my arms, letting out a mumbled scream. "It's alright Bella; it will be over so soon."

Renesmee sprung down from the rocks to crouch beside me, her now shockingly flaming crimson eyes were open wide in horror.

"What's wrong with her?" She hissed, winding her fingers through mine.

"Jane got to her; she'll be fine in a minute. I promise you." I squeezed her hand tight, stroking the other across Bella's forehead. "Nessie, how many did you drink?"

She sighed, not bringing her gaze to meet mine. "Six."

Six humans killed for her to be put in danger, six innocent lives utterly wasted.

"Renesmee you have to get out of here, now."

She ripped her hand out of mine, stepping backwards quickly. "No! I am fighting, and this time, you can't stop me so don't even try dad!"

A clap of thunder rumbled through the dark sky, the start of a storm, the end of the choking drought, it came with another shriek from Bella. Renesmee started to run, shooting behind the rock face towards the danger I had to keep her away from. I turned back towards Bella; she was sucking in staggered breaths through her teeth with her face scrunched into an agonised frown.

"Bella, love."

"I'm okay, I'm okay." She spoke with her teeth still clenched together but her unnecessary breathing had slowed, the desperate wriggling had stopped. "Where's Renesmee? I heard her voice."

I stood up quickly, holding out my hand to her through the darkness.

"Trying to fight, she'll get hurt if we don't stop her, she's too young for this."

She took my hand and pulled herself up to standing before starting to drag me towards where Renesmee had disappeared. Straight back in the action after a nearly fatal experience, what more did I expect of her, of my Bella, of my tigress. She pulled me across the clearing; her grip on my hand was unbreakable.

"We have to find her."

I launched myself at her with all my force, knocking her to the ground with myself lying on top. A dark shape flew swiftly over our heads, bounding over the rocks on the other side with their fingers outstretched like the fatal claws of a ravenous animal. If she had been immersed in this unnatural world alone, with no one to watch over her and protect her, I'm sure she would have found a way to get herself killed by now, even with immortality.

"We also have to watch our backs at the same time." I pulled her back up into the air. "Find Alice, Bella. I'm going to fetch our daughter then we can get her out of here."

She nodded and pressed her lips to mine for a mere second before disappearing out of my sight again. I ran, following my daughters scent as she passed the rocks that ran down the eastern side. I rounded the corner and she was there, stood gazing into nowhere with her arms hanging limply by her sides.

"Renesmee, are you alright?"

Her head snapped up from wherever she was staring, my voice rousing her from the depths of her never ending imagination.

_It's her, Aymie, she's one of them. She's been telling them everything all along, how to break through us, how many we would be bringing All those times, the pain, it's her gift, erasing your memories. I swear I'm going to kill her._

The visions, the breach, the ambush, Aymie been behind it all? So, her gift, erasing the memory of anyone she wished. Of course- the pain Renesmee felt after awakening herself, it was Aymie erasing what she'd seen but why had she even seen it? Aymie must have been rushing to remove the evidence and therefore causing pain, but Renesmee wasn't Alice... she didn't see visions or predict the future and why had I not been able to read this from Aymie's thoughts. Nothing made sense.

If there's one thing I'd learnt my life, it would be never trust the facts, something impossible can and will always happen and when it does, it's best not to stand around pondering but get on with life. I blinked; Renesmee was gone from where she was standing before.

"For god's sakes." I spoke so quietly it would be unintelligible to anyone around me.

I stepped into the trees where it was even darker, if that was even possible when the sky was already a deep shade of ebony. In front of me was a blurred silhouette, twisting and turning quicker than anything I'd seen before. It wasn't just one silhouette, but two, echoing each other's movements in perfect synchrony.

Renesmee had no experience in this; she had the speed, but not the knowledge of this. I edged forward, careful not to distract her when she was already so confused.

"Edward, what a nice surprise."

I focused my eyes on the figure that had just wandered in front of me, Marcus. I lurched forward towards his body, but he wasn't inexperienced like the young one earlier. He flipped over my head, landing perfectly and silently behind me.

"You're dead Marcus."

I bent backwards, fixing my grip on his head and then swinging him through the air so he smashed against the floor at my feet. He sprung up to standing again and lunged forward, hands open to grasp my leg. I pushed off from the floor, kicking him as hard as I could in the face as I did so.

"I'd like to see you try." He hissed, spinning around to dive at me again. I twisted around his arm so his hand could not reach my leg. As he pushed off from the ground again I slid to his left; my hand was balled into a tight fist and I thrust it as hard as I possibly could through his muscled chest. Ancientness had obviously taken its toll on his ability to fight, if it had not, I surely would be burning on a bonfire right now.

"There you go." I hissed, twisting my hands around my neck until his body crumbled underneath and his head became detached. I threw it into the flames and kicked the rest of his body along the ground until it burst into a set of towering flames as well. Satisfaction filled my body as his body began to melt away into ashes. How long I'd been waiting for that, ever since I had first met the Volturi coven I'd wanted to kill every single one of them, one would suffice, for now. I straightened up but before I knew it my body had slammed against the rough bark of the trees opposite, powered by an object that had smacked into me from behind. The bark scraped against my skin as I slid down towards the ground but did no harm, I secured my hands on the person that clung tightly to my back and yanked her round into my vision.

"Oh, Renesmee get out of here now!"

She let out a growl of rage and sprung out of my arms back to the ground, sprinting into the trees. I jumped down after her, brushing the leaves from my hair as I ran. She was so determined to finish this herself, I couldn't stop her now from her sheer determination. I came to another smaller clearing where Renesmee was crouched close to the ground in front of me, her attention fixed on Aymie who was stood with her back to us, chatting desperately to Jacob. Who was still totally unaware of her true purpose here with us, to kill her enemies.

"I hate you!" Renesmee screamed, springing off from the ground and charging towards Aymie.

Her target spun around, her face a perfect mask of a petrified expression. "Jacob, Jacob help!"

Jacob twirled around too quickly to even get a chance of seeing who was charging at him, he burst out into his rust coloured wolf form again and leapt viciously into the air.

I needed to stop him but my body wouldn't respond, I just took one sudden step forward, unable to make a decision on how to approach them without making anything even worse than it already was.

Jacob's teeth sunk deep into Renesmee's chest as he collided with her in the air, his head was snapping from side to side, swinging her limp body with it. Blood spurted out of his mouth and spilled in several trickles to the floor.

"Jacob, stop!" I bellowed, not even sure whether my voice had made a sound, taking another step forward. This couldn't be happening; my hands were dragging through my hair, my nails ripping into my own skin as I watched.

He shook her body about more viciously, pressing his teeth further into her tiny chest. Aymie was retreating backwards, her face still a near perfect expression of fear but the corner of her mouth was twitching up into a smirk. How much I wanted to kill that sickening little child was unbelievable.

I started to run, sprinting head on towards where Jacob continued to maul my daughter, his huge claws ripping at her lifeless body that was still wedged between his razor teeth. He caught a sight of me in his large, flat black eyes and twisted his head to the side.

_This one's mine Edward; I'm not having you take all the glory._

This was about taking the glory, what did he think of me? That I only cared about the amount of lives I stole today? Of course he thought that, he thoroughly hated me, as I did him, only that amount of hate had just trebled in the past five seconds. It would be more than hate if she wasn't alright after this, so much more than plain hate – it would be pure murderous hate.

He snapped his head back to facing straight forward at me, Renesmee's body flying out of his mouth and skimming the branches of the trees before disappearing into deeper darkness. No sounds emerged apart from the thud of her landing flat on the forest floor and Aymie slipping away from where we stood.

"What the hell have you done?" I screamed at Jacob, though the scream burned the back of my throat like a fire.

Jacob froze, raising one eyebrow at me in suspicion.

_What do you mean leech, was she already yours for the kill?_

"Take a breath of the air Jacob, whose scent is that?" I whispered, shuffling gradually in the direction of where he'd flung her body.

He tilted back his head to raise his snout into the air and then his head sank back down, his legs began to tremble slightly and his eyes bulged to their rims.

_Nessie..._

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. Why should I waste my energy on that pathetic, half blind, brainless ball of fur? I would bet anything that the doctor dropped him on his head several times when he was born. I left him stood where he was, to figure out what he'd just done, but with that brain I wouldn't be surprised if it took him quite a while to sort through all the possibilities of how stupid he'd just been. The scent of blood had already stung the air severely but it was still getting stronger, more pungent and livelier to my raging senses.

I stormed into the trees, skimming along the ground with my eyes for her body, she had to be alive, she just had to be. A pale white shape was curled up at the foot of a tree, as still as the night sky above her. Another slim figure was crouched over her, her hands wrapped firmly around Renesmee's neck and her teeth cutting into the pulsing skin so several trickles of fragrant, scarlet blood were running down her throat.

"No!"

Aymie didn't look up as I approached her, only shuddered in delight of the smooth blood running down her throat and soothing the burn. As I locked my hands on her shoulders, she retracted her teeth from the warm skin of Renesmee's neck and replaced them on Nessie's cheek. I tore Aymie's body away from hers, ripping her slender throat with my teeth, pacing into the trees and lobbing her into the depth of darkness again - hoping that the devil would find her soon enough. Or even better, Emmett could rip her heart out himself.

"Renesmee!"

My legs wouldn't follow the instructions from my brain at all, so I ended up falling over to where she lay. Her stomach was pressed flat against the ground, one of her legs was raised up in a bent position on the floor although it seemed to me to be bent in more places than one, and the other leg was just laid limp in a fairly normal position surrounded by a sparkling pool of red on the ground. Her head was laid to the side and her neck was twisted awkwardly around so that her mouth was forced open. No pulse was beating as I pressed my fingers lightly to her wrists and her bloody throat.

"No, no, no!" Jacob lunged forward from where he had been standing, now in human form, but I raised my hand in front of his body and let out a rough snarl that came from my chest. He kicked at my hand furiously with his shoeless foot, only managing to knock it back a couple of centimetres. "Get out of the way parasite!"

"Why should I, dog!" I hissed, pressing my cool hand to her cheek that was even colder than my skin, as cold as the ice of the winter. If he was using these ridiculous names again, then I was too, though that was hardly the best thing for me to think about now.

He grabbed my other hand that was raised in front of his face with both of his. "Because she's my only reason for life now."

If she was his life, why would he have savaged her to death and been so completely idiotic and blindingly ignorant? I didn't answer him. Instead I wrenched my hand from his and placed it on her shoulder. One small push was all it took to roll her body over so her weight was on her back and as soon as it was, the frail pulsing of her heart started up again. Jacob took a deep breath of relief but nothing could have saved my heart from what I saw there. A huge patch of red liquid was seeping through her thin blouse, completely soaking her body in her own blood but where the blouse was ripped; her pale flesh was torn apart too.

"CARLISLE!" I yelled, ripping her delicate blouse straight down the middle and chucking the dripping material into Jacob's lap. He flinched away from it, placing his hands on either side of his head and pushing against the bone in mental agony. There was no way for me to be sure that Carlisle would respond to my call, from the voices I could pick out amongst the ordering instructions, pleas for help or surrender from both sides, Carlisle was deeply involved in his own dance with a man I did not recognise at all.

_She's going to be alright, she is going to be alright. _

When I ripped away the cotton, I saw the exact extent of the damage Jacob's teeth had done, there were four huge gashes down her torso spilling blood to the brittle leaves she lay on but my attention was pulled to the gash that ran down the middle. In the centre of this gash, there was something moving unsteadily to the beat of her breathing, this something had a large tear down the centre that was causing it to become slower and slower.

A ripped heart.

A broken heart.

She _would_ die if we didn't do something fast, she would. I screamed again, not even bothered to think about the burn that scratched continuously as I spoke.

"CARLISLE, HELP! PLEASE!"

I turned back to my daughter, slipping the band that wrenched her hair up into the tight, painful knot out so it spread out across the floor like a mane around her white face. I slipped one hand into the mass of knots carefully and pressed it to her scalp before retracting it. There was a thin coating of crimson covering my fingertips. This nightmare was just getting worse and worse, so much so that I doubted it could go any further. Unless, she died.

Renesmee's eyes flickered open and the piercing screams began.

All the time her shrieks penetrated the air all I could do was sit and stare and press my cool hands to her body to at least _try_ and help her. Occasionally the screams were interrupted by the gargling of her mouth filling with a constant flow of blood and then the rough coughing as it spilled out onto the floor and so that she could scream out again. Dark shapes were beginning to appear all over her skin where the bones stuck out freakishly. Her bloodshot eyes were rolling back into her head at the pain while the unbroken limbs flailed around, adding to her already contorted shape. I felt a pressure on my shoulders and Carlisle's hands slip quickly past my face towards her body. I clutched one of her hands with mine and squeezed it tightly to help her keep in consciousness.

"What happened to her Edward, who did this?" Carlisle's voice calmed me ever so slightly, though I still felt like I was in the middle of experiencing a heart attack. He ran his hands over her body. Examining the damage and exactly which bones were broken, needing only a single touch.

I locked my teeth, stroking my fingers across her cheekbones as she continued to scream.

"Aymie is with the Volturi, Carlisle, she was trying to kill her and..." It hurt me to say his name, although I did not know why. He had almost killed her! Why should I feel any regret in spreading the story of his unbelievably ignorant mistake? "Jacob did this to her, he was stupid and idiotic and downright blinded by his eagerness to kill."

Jacob let out a low moan, raising to his feet and stepping over towards the tree she'd hit and therefore broken bones on, on impact. He smacked his forehead against the shrivelled bark, knocking several pieces off so that they fell down onto my back unintentionally.

"You're alright honey." Carlisle whispered, slipping his thin, leather jacket underneath her chest and bringing it around to tie it at the top. "Keep breathing for me."

"WHAT?" A voice shouted. "JAKE DID THIS TO HER?"

Bella dropped to her knees beside me, shaking her head from side to side and placing both hands on Nessie's chest. Renesmee screamed again, more skin peeling than the ones before it and then it stopped. The thumping of her shoulders, the eruptions of pain from her mouth and the pulsing of her torn heart.

"NO!" Bella slid her hands up and down her still body, unable to decide what to do now.

Renesmee smiled gently, closing and opening her eyes slowly then her breathing cut off and her hand slipped away from mine. Why was she smiling when she was in so much pain? Her eyes shut, and for all we knew, it could be for the last time, ever.

The needle sharp rain began to splatter down on my face and my hands, getting harder and harder so it was pounding down like racing bullets on my back at the most inconvenient time possible.

"You can't leave me Renesmee." Bella breathed, her eyes wide as she pressed one hand either side of our daughters head. "You're going to be absolutely fine, I promise, I promise."

She was dead, her heart had stopped beating, and it was over. Bella was going mad, like when I'd left her all alone and she'd gone completely insane, hanging out with young werewolves and cavorting herself off cliffs to experience the sound of my voice. She'd gone mad with sadness.

"Bella..." I whispered, pulling her fingers gently away from the mangled body she still clutched.

"No!" She bent down and scooped up Renesmee into her arms, breaking out into a run and vanishing into the trees. "No..."

"It's not too late Edward." Carlisle stood up, pacing into the trees after Bella. "There is hope."

Of course there was. With Carlisle – there was always hope, no matter how hopeless the situation.

"Her heart is shredded, she isn't breathing, and her bones are shattered. Where is there any true hope in that?"

I stood up anyway, following the trail of blood that snaked across the ground with the rainwater. Bella had stopped and was stood facing my father. His hands were pumping up and down on Renesmee's chest firmly while Bella watched, helpless.

"Where's the closest hospital?" My voice was unsteady with fear and despair.

"It's not far; it should only take us a minute or two to reach if we run."

Bella let out a spluttering wail, her nostrils flaring at the sweetness of the blood that now soaked her as well.

"Give her to me."

She set Renesmee's drenched body (both in crimson blood and rain from the torrential downpour) in one of my arms so that I could support as much of her as possible while my other hand took Carlisle's job of pressing into her skin just below her ribcage every second to keep her little heart pumping. The rain whipped across my face as I ran, following my father's instructions and directions that he shouted out to me in his mind. Her body was so cold. It was like clutching a solid block of ice, although this block wasn't solid, it was melting away into nothing.


	13. Chapter 12

Thank you so much for reading! It means a lot! Here is the last chapter from Edward's perspective, enjoy! Or not, as the circumstances are...

Chapter Twelve; If Only...

I shoved open the glass door of the first building we came to on the site, there seemed nothing impressive about these buildings, just tall lumps of concrete, but what did you expect from a hospital. A place of disease and a place of death. The woman at the front desk started as I sprinted in, clutching my daughter's body close to my chest, Bella and Carlisle close behind and Jacob bringing up the rear, but I thoroughly doubted that he would have the courage to follow us inside those doors.

"She was attacked, by an animal, she's hardly breathing, and you have to help her!" I shouted at the woman who pushed off from her black, wheeled chair, a confused expression covering her face.

She was Italian; of course she was Italian, we were in Italy for god's sakes. When I was hassled my mind didn't seem to work as usual, it just shut down, mashing everything into a mess of thoughts when I needed a clear mind the most. She jogged over to a burly looking man in a long white coat who reminded me of Emmett, dragging him by the arm to where we stood.

"Bring her here!" This man was clearly Italian from the accent that filled his voice. He glanced once at the blood that was soaking my shirt from the gashes. Renesmee's chest was heaving up and down unevenly but only supported by the constant pumping of my hands applying pressure, without that her breathing would collapse again. She was dead, yet she was being forced to stay alive.

A trolley rammed into my thighs as he shoved it desperately towards us. I laid her down, retracting my hands from her chest. Another doctor strode over, his eyes widening as he saw her injuries.

"You do know her?" The Italian doctor queried, running over to another group of waiting staff.

"She's our daughter." I clutched Bella's hand, pulling her gently to my side. "You have to help her please..."

The group of hustled staff gathered around the trolley, blocking her from our view and then started to run, pushing the trolley away in front them so our baby disappeared through a pair of plastic double doors with them.

"She'll be okay." I whispered into Bella's ear, her response wasn't so positive; she just stared after her blankly. "She'll be okay."

I felt so empty when I lost sight of her, just like somebody had sucked all the life and hope out of my body and mind leaving nothing but deadness behind. All I could do was walk forward along the bland corridor, leaving the pairs of doors we passed through swinging loosely behind us.

All my fears for that fight had been for losing Bella, she was the one who was determined to get herself killed but nothing had prepared me for losing our daughter.

"Do you mind if I come in?" Carlisle murmured, I realised that we'd reached the room where they'd taken her. "I'm trained."

Of course – her beautiful, ivory tinted skin wasn't penetrable by human force; Carlisle would have to take over this surgery. The doctor nodded quickly and slipped inside the door, bundling a green item into Carlisle's chest as he entered too. I backed up against the wall, still clutching Bella's hand who was echoing my exact movements like I had some sort of gravitational pull on her. Another scream like that of the ones she'd released earlier only much worse seeped through the door, draining the last of my strength. My legs gave way underneath my body causing me to crumple onto the floor.

"Edward," Bella breathed, sinking down to slump next to me. She lent her head on my shoulder lightly, though the burden of all her thoughts caused her to press it harder and harder into my bone.

"She'll be alright," I whispered, all I could manage now.

"Edward, why did Jacob do it?" Bella sank down to slouch next to me on the grey linoleum, her face completely torn. "Did she dump him or something?"

"If only..." If only she had.

Two hours had trudged past in total silence; neither I nor Bella had moved an inch from the positions we'd fallen into when Carlisle passed through that door, that one piece of pathetic plastic preventing us from seeing her, our only daughter. The only way I even knew her heart was still beating was that I could hear it, even over all the shouts from the doctors that surrounded her, over all the constant beeps and alerts from the machinery that was fighting to keep her alive. I was so attuned to her heartbeat now, I could pick it out anywhere from the sheer speed it beat at. The noise was staggered, like her heart was stumbling its way through unconsciousness, trying to find a way to pull her out of the dark and back to the blinding lights of the hospital theatre she lay in. Only the presence of Bella besides me on the floor, and her arm that was wound securely around my neck kept me awake in reality, constantly reminding me that this was actually happening. I'd taken to drowning out the voices of the frantic doctors as I had in Volterra, only straining to pick out Renesmee's thoughts when they came, though most of her thoughts were clouded, empty, just darkness. On the rare occasion that I was able to pick our words, which was only when she physically spoke them, they were screams of agony again, piercing my heart time and time again as well as the previously silent air.

The double doors flew open and smacked into the wall behind with a sharp bang. A group of people in dark green overalls, the doctors from before emerged first, followed swiftly by a smaller group of four nurses walking either side of the silver trolley, two had their hands clinging to the side rails, pushing it along the corridor and around the corner. Carlisle stepped out after them, his eyes wide.

"Is she alright?"Bella exclaimed, wrenching me up to standing. Carlisle didn't answer immediately; he just stared after the group of nurses silently. "Carlisle, what's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and started down the corridor, beckoning subtly with his left hand for us to follow. I picked one word out of his thoughts, the only one that mattered to me right now.

_Coma._

Bella tugged me behind her, still completely unaware on her daughter's condition. It was possible to pull out of these things, I'd never studied medical science myself but I knew that. She would get through it; she had to get through it. Carlisle stopped in front of a framed plastic window, turning around to face me slowly. He met my gaze, which must have also been begging at the question that was rampaging around my brain – 'would she wake up from this?' and his response was a reluctant shake of his head.

"How long till the anaesthetic wears off?" Bella whimpered, her face pressed right up against the plastic and her eyes locked on something on the other side.

I couldn't even bring myself to look through, too afraid of what I would see on the other side, how utterly pathetic. I pulled Bella back from the window, spinning her around to face me, so that she could see my face to know I wasn't lying, though lying about this would be sick.

"Bella, she's not asleep because of the anaesthetic." I mumbled, gripping her hands tighter.

"I, I don't understand." She mumbled as her eyebrows burrowed together in her confusion.

I took a deep, long breath. "She's in a coma, Bella."

It took a second for that to sink in but it was obvious when it had. Her expression was so twisted I could of stabbed her a million times with a bread knife from every single angle possible and then set her to burn on a furious fire. I dropped her hands and held out my arms to embrace her but she didn't take it, instead she shoved through the door into the bright hospital room ahead.

"Edward, can I speak to you please," Carlisle said, his voice sounding half dead from the failure of his surgery.

"One minute."

I stepped around him, sliding through the door that was still half way through its swing to shut after Bella. She was stood not far in front of the door, completely motionless. I brought my gaze up from the floor to stare past her. Renesmee was laid on a railed hospital bed, completely swamped with tubes. It was hard to see her features under the layers of wires and masks that were plastered to her sheet white face; a set of needles was wedged into her arm that lay limply by her side, obviously assisted by Carlisle as no human doctor would have been able to force them into her skin. A chain of pipes hung around the bed like vines in a jungle and a tall tower of machines by the side of her bed were bleeping constantly, showing the slow pace of her heartbeat as a jagged line across the screen.

"Why?" Bella whispered, shuffling forward an inch at a time.

The nurse that was tending to the wires and machines answered her, though not the question I think Bella had been asking and again, it was in a strong Italian accent.

"She had too long without oxygen, and she's lost to much blood. We tried our hardest, I promise you." She walked forward, pressing her hand to Bella's shuddering shoulder, a sincere expression on her face. "I'll give you a couple of minutes, and then we need to talk to you if that's okay."

The door shut behind her and we were alone, just me, Bella and our daughter, who was theoretically dead. Bella stepped forward, falling to her knees beside the bed; she reached out with one hand to press one finger to Renesmee's face. That was all that was possible through the labyrinth of medical equipment there.

"Everything's going to be alright," she whispered, her head swinging down to rest on the edge of the thin mattress as she spoke. Renesmee's body was still covered in dried blood. "I won't let anything or anyone hurt you ever again. You're going to wake up and we'll carry on and it'll be fine..."

I didn't have a clue what to do. If Bella died, I would be so completely empty of happiness that I could not continue to live but also so full of anger to avenge the one that killed her that I would do anything to see them dead. Now, I just felt drained, drained of all feeling what so ever, no anger or hope. I just felt nothing. It was silent for a single minute, apart from the constant buzzing from the stack of monitors. I remained where I stood while constantly worrying that my legs would give under the weight of my thoughts at any moment.

"Why?" Bella sat up, staring blankly at the maze of wires. "Why this Edward?"

"Aymie."

"What? What does Aymie have to do with this?"

"Bella, Aymie was with them."

"No."

"Yes." I walked over to the bed. "She was constantly betraying our location, our plans, our numbers and she was the one who made certain that the humans were on that footpath."

"How did you ... not know?"

I shook my head, I had no idea how I had not heard what was going on in her mind. Another power perhaps. "I don't know."

"I'll kill her."

Another instant addition to Bella's now extremely extensive hit list.

The double doors swung open as I dragged two blue chairs to the side of the bed. I slumped into one but Bella didn't take hers, she remained on the floor.

"How are you doing?" A voice asked, this voice had no Italian accent, instead she pronounced the words in the tone of an Englishwoman.

Neither of us answered so the pale skinned woman continued into the room to stand beside the machines on the opposite side of the bed to us.

"I know how hard this is for you to accept." She leant over to brush Renesmee's bronze hair away from her face. "She was so strong in there, she didn't want to let go."

"She hasn't." Bella murmured, pressing her face into the mattress again. "She's still fighting."

The nurse looked down at Bella and then swiftly up to me, her eyes full of sympathy.

"Can I talk to you, Mr Cullen?"

I knew what she was going to say, and every time I heard it my heart fell even further into this invisible abyss. How much blood she'd lost. How the doctors had done all that was possible to keep her in consciousness. But normal humans listen unconditionally to what the doctor had to say and normal humans cannot read minds, so I had to suffer this again. She led me a little way down the same corridor and then into a small room to the right, next door to where Renesmee lay, still.

The room was dim and bland. Lit only by a glowing screen covered in x-ray prints and one old fashioned reading lamp set on the huge mahogany desk. The nurse sat down in a large leather chair on the other side of the desk, urging me to take a seat on the white stool ahead.

"I'm Doctor Jones." She announced in a clear voice as I sunk down onto the stool.

"Hello." My voice was empty of any expression whatsoever.

She pressed her fountain pen into the paper so hard that the ink flowed out into a messy black blotch.

"Her injuries were so bad; it made it nearly impossible for us to focus on stopping the bleeding," she whispered under her breath, almost so quiet that I would actually have to make an effort of listening to be able to hear her. "She's had one broken leg, a broken arm, a fractured skull, a broken collarbone and quite a few of her ribs are shattered."

I groaned. How much pain had she been in? It was undoubtedly excruciating for her. Why had she fought so hard to stay alive, when it was hurting her so much? Why had she smiled, when she knew that she was going to die, when she knew that she was leaving this world? There were so many things I didn't understand about that child, things that I wondered if I would ever find out about.

"The gashes..." I hadn't even thought before I spoke, the words just fell out of my mouth unwillingly. I knew what was coming next would rip me apart even more.

She looked down at her papers while she spoke.

"Her heart was torn in whatever this animal did to her and she lost an unbelievable amount of blood from the wounds. It's only beating now because she's on a life support machine, if we turn it off, it would be over." Her voice wavered as she spoke, full of sadness. "I'm sorry that this is coming to you so bluntly but there isn't another way of telling you – that she isn't going to wake up."

I pushed off from the chair and it toppled over, clattering to the floor nosily. Jacob Black was going to die, and I was going to be the one to kill him. To think I had trusted him! With Bella's life, with Renesmee's life, there was so many times where they had both been alone with him. He could have so easily killed Bella when she was human, and she would have been completely helpless under his supernatural strength. Totally and utterly helpless and it would have been my fault because I had not prevented her from having the dog in her presence – like I was welcomingly handing her into the gnarled, bony arms of death. I stormed down the corridor in the direction of the hospital's reception where he would be, passing the window of the room where Bella sat quickly. However, she wasn't sat where she should have been, there had been no figure crouching next to the bed. I pushed open the door that was further along lightly, glancing around the room.

"Bella?"

I stepped into the ward so I could see over to the other side of the rails of the bed. She was curled up against the pale blue wall; both of her hands were wrapped tightly around the back of her head. Every one or two seconds she let out a little squeak and then rocked herself forwards and backwards in comfort before smacking her forehead against the skirting board with all the force she had left inside her.

"Oh god, Bella."

"She's gone." She screeched, wriggling further into the corner and slamming her perfect face against the plaster again with more force than her last attempt.

"Stop Bella, please stop." I slid my hands under her body, scooping her up and pressing her close to my chest. She buried her face into my shirt, pinching the cotton between two of her teeth and then retracting them swiftly as the taste of Renesmee's blood reached her lips from the material where it had dried on earlier. "Please don't hurt yourself over this, please Bella."

"She's dead."

I didn't say anything else; afraid of increasing her despair, instead I just lowered myself into one of the blue chairs again. I pressed Bella's face firmly again my skin so she wouldn't be able to see the body in front of us, that would only make her pain worse. Whenever she turned her face even slightly to the side I secured my lips on hers so that her eyes couldn't meet the sight ahead, she seemed satisfied with my distraction, for the moment. The clock seemed to tick so slowly, it was like the time was dragging itself through the air just like it was trying to swim through treacle.

Someone knocked lightly on the door, rousing us both from our thoughts.

Alice.

She slid through the doorway and then stopped at the end of the bed. Her face was not empty like mine and Bella's were when we came in for the first time, it was absolutely horrified.

"Oh my god." She tripped her way over to where we sat, weaving her hand through the wires to reach her niece's face. "What happened to her?"

"She got involved in the fight." I stared blankly at the wall opposite. It was my fault that she'd even been able to get into the midst of the danger. It was my fault that she was dead, because I had not protected her and prevented her strongly enough from getting into this. I should have run and knocked Jacob away from her before he could do any serious damage with his oversized jaws. But I hadn't, I hadn't even been able to move. I had hardly even been able to speak. Everything horrible and painful that had ever happened to Bella and to Renesmee had always been my fault if you followed the winding tracks far back enough. No matter if I wasn't actually the one to administer the pain or the torture to them both. It was always my entire fault. I made myself feel physically sick.

"She's going to be okay, right?"

So Carlisle hadn't told her yet, another beautiful heart for me to break in two with the truth.

"Alice..." I murmured, rocking Bella from side to side in my arms.

She ignored me. "Who did this?"

"Jacob Black." Bella snarled, making an effort to move for the first time since I had picked her up from the floor. "But trust me; he won't be living any longer than she will."

"Has she woken up since it happened? She must be in so much pain." Alice continued, running her hand down one of Renesmee's arms, not even flinching away when her fingertips reached the skin where the broken bones protested against it. She hadn't picked up Bella's subtle hint about the length of life Renesmee had left. I'd have to put it to her straight.

"Alice, she isn't going to wake up." I squeezed Bella's shoulder firmly. "Renesmee is dead. Her heart isn't beating by itself anymore, she's gone."

I could have physically shattered my sister's heart into a million pieces from the expression she put on her glittering face.

"No!"

Alice sped up her stroking, like she was trying to wake Renesmee from the never ending sleep of death. An impossible task, though I rarely limited any task as impossible. This was. Bella slid out from my arms, staggering to the side as she pulled herself out of the misty haze in her mind When she regained full consciousness, she stalked out of the room, lifting her shoulders up and down like she was warming up for something.

Warming up for a fight with Jacob. She could be so impatient when she had her mind set on something. I wouldn't let him kill her too, no way. There was a sharp scraping noise from the feet of the chair against the floor as I stood up from the chair.

"Alice, will you stay with her, please." I whimpered. "I don't want to leave her by herself again."

She looked up at me with her huge eyes and gave me a small nod. It sounded pathetic that I couldn't leave her alone, but I was so afraid of anything else happening to her that it was too hard to leave her with no protection. Even if it was a lightning bolt from the storm that came down and hit her, it would be my fault if she was left unprotected again and I could not bear to have her in even more pain than she already was.

It took me less than ten seconds to get back to the hospital reception where Bella was stood a couple of feet in front of Jacob. His eyes were so tortured that it almost made _me_ feel sorry for him; the total opposite of what I should be feeling, it seemed Bella wasn't feeling so sympathetic today.

"Get outside Jacob," She growled. "Now!"

He looked at her desperately, pleading for her to forgive him and help him get through the pain that she was suffering also. Whatever reaction he wanted from her, it didn't come. So he started to shuffle slowly towards the doors and outside into the freezing cold and blazing rain of the night. Bella remained where she was, scowling after him furiously.

"Bella, I really don't think you want to kill him." I warned quietly, avoiding any more attention from the bustling staff around us. "He's your best friend."

She spun around but didn't meet my gaze. "He _was_ my best friend, I don't see how he tricked me into making that relationship last so long. To think I trusted him all those times, you were right to dislike him so much. But right now you can't see inside my head, Edward. You don't understand how much I truly and thoroughly hate him right now!"

"I know exactly how much you hate him Bella. But he was the person our daughter cared about the most, she loved him and you're prepared to kill him right now, while her heart still beats?"

"I don't see why I should wait right up to the moment she dies. Her life is just powered by a machine now. She isn't going to live."

That fact still hurt me like I was being hit in the face by a thundering train coming at me at 200 miles an hour.

She spoke again while she hugged me tightly. "I am sorry, Edward. I'm being so selfish."

"Don't..." I was going to say don't you dare call yourself selfish but she took it more as a warning to not venture outside after Jacob.

"I won't get myself hurt. I'll be back in two minutes, stay inside here, please."

She kissed me gently and then turned to storm out of the doors. I followed her but stopped at the glass panes and pressed my back against the adjoining wall. Bella had told me that I had to stay inside, not that I couldn't listen to what they were saying. I couldn't see my wife in through darkness but I could very easily guess what expressions were swamping her face from the rough tones of her voice.

Her voice was frighteningly ferocious, so different from what she used when talking to me. "I don't know how you even have the sheer cheek to still be here Jake."

"Bella, she is my life. Like Edward is yours. So don't you dare pretend that you don't understand how much this is killing me because it's almost certainly more than it's killing you!"

Bella snorted. "Don't even think about making me angrier Jacob, because you really do not want my temper to slip."

"Likewise." Jacob snarled. Then there was a short pause leaving only their short, sharp pants for me to listen to intently. "Let me see her."

"Over my dead body."

"You're already dead Bella. Your heart doesn't beat." Jacob snarled, though I could detect reluctance in his voice that he had to use this excuse again. "I really, really, really don't want to kill you. You're my best friend."

Bella sighed. "I would have said the same until tonight, but you don't understand that it's not only you who loves her. You have torn an entire chunk out of my life with those teeth, and you're going to pay for it. Did you know that I and Edward might not be the only ones whose heart won't beat soon?"

"What?" Jacob growled. "I _need_ to see her."

"Never."

There was a sound of someone smacking their hand against another's skin and by the thoughts of Jacob in pain, Bella had just walloped his arm as he had made a slight approach towards the building.

There was no possibility that I was going to let him fight her. All the anger from before they had gone outside had flooded back into my body when he'd mentioned killing her, replacing any sympathy at all for Jacob. I shoved through the door into the blackness. Jacob had both of his hands balled into fists and placed on her shoulders.

"Jacob, get away from my wife, now." I hissed, walking right up to where they stood. "I'm in a very good frame of mind to kill _you_ right this minute and for once, I don't think Bella would stop me from doing so."

He pulled his hands away and stepped back. His face dropped down from anger to tearing sadness again.

"Let me see Renesmee, I'd fall on my knees and physically beg and grovel at you but I really don't think it would help my case."

"No!" Bella shrieked, her hands flying up into the air. "You are going nowhere near my daughter ever again Jacob Black! You're not going within one thousand miles radius of her, I swear! "

An idea fluttered into my mind.

"Bella, maybe we should let him go through to her."

"What!"

She looked up at me in confusion so I continued.

"Jacob needs to see exactly what he's done to her Bella; I think it would be better if he saw it firsthand rather than through our descriptions. Maybe it would even teach him a lesson for once."

I felt so bad, somewhere inside, that I was so eagerly willing to make Jacob Black suffer. I had to constantly picture how I had found Renesmee on that forest floor after Jacob had flung her from his mouth to remind myself of why I was doing this. To remind myself of how much I wanted to kill that dog now.

"Fine, _then_ he's out." Bella whispered, giving in to the despair so that her body became as limp as her daughters. "Then I'm killing him."

I caught her in my arms before she had a chance of even thinking of falling to the ground. She buried her face in the material of my shirt again so that her forehead rested against my neck. I started to walk towards the hospital building again; trying to keep my pace as even as possible though the longing to burst out into a sprint was as strong as ever. I knew I was being overprotective; nothing could have happened that was worse than her injuries already in the past couple of minutes alone, especially with Alice _and_ Carlisle there watching her. Unless that lightning bolt had dared to strike the building behind my back. The corridors were totally empty. It had to be way past midnight now, the sky outside was an empty blanket of blackness, only one or two flickering balls of light were dotted on the horizon. There would be no chance of whispering a wish to a shooting star tonight.

Jacob was following so closely behind that I could feel his burning breath on the back of my neck, it felt like he was stalking us. But I understood the desperation he felt to see what was behind the white washed walls for if it was Bella laying there in Nessie's position, nothing would be able to stop me from reaching her. I pushed open the door with one hand and let Jacob pass through first.

Alice sprung over the bed, swinging into a crouch so her body was placed in between us and Renesmee, or more Jacob and Renesmee in this case. Her lips opened to let out a roaring snarl.

Carlisle cupped his hand around my sister's shoulder. "Alice..."

"I don't see why he's even allowed in the same building as her." She growled, her eyes never leaving Jacob as she tensed her body even further in preparation for an attack that would never come.

Jacob gritted his teeth. "I need to see her."

"You killed my four year old niece Jacob Black. She hardly even got a proper chance to live in this world!" Alice squealed in disbelief, shifting her weight to the left so it was possible to see the mass of wires and tubes behind her. "She's going to die because of your stupidity. So why should I let you anywhere near her? "

There was a moment of silence until the dog spoke again in a voice full of wretched disbelief. "She's going to die?"

Jacob's head snapped around from Alice to me. He caught my gaze, holding it until I looked down at Bella. His pupils were so large with fear that his whole eye was nearly swamped in the menacing black.

_She can't be..._

I nodded, keeping my face as stern as I could manage without breaking down and slid across the room to sink into a chair again, rocking Bella cautiously from side to side like a baby. I was quite surprised that she hadn't started wailing again. I could hardly keep myself together, so with Bella's oversensitivity, it was a shock she hadn't crumbled into dust on the ground already. I twisted her silky hair around two of my fingers as Jacob shuffled forward across the linoleum floor, straight past Alice and right up to the bleeping machinery.

His voice was a tiny croak. "Renesmee..."

Jacob Black hadn't stayed in our presence for long. There had been ten silent minutes while he knelt at the head of Renesmee's bed. Every attempt he made to lay a finger on her skin had been aborted when Alice edged threateningly close to him whenever he reached his hand forward. Then he'd kissed her forehead, oblivious at the time of the vicious glares Alice was shooting at him from behind and left. His dark eyes burning with the sadness of extreme regret. That was four days ago now and nothing had changed since regarding Renesmee's condition. Her pale body lay as limp and lifeless as before on the hospital bed. Only now, she lay on a wider, thicker mattress in a room next door to Carlisle's office in a busy Vancouver hospital. While we were all left waiting for something that would never come...


	14. Chapter 13

[AN; So, here you go. This chapter goes back in time – AKA back to the fight scene. Just a warning, this isn't the end. I've already written all of Burning Horizon and there are sixteen chapters in total. However, I'm now writing Frozen Flames, that carries on from the end of this book! I hope you stick with the story and enjoy it! Please comment on the reviews, and ask if you have any questions! Thank you! Lucy.]

Chapter Thirteen - Renesmee Carlie Cullen

I hadn't even realised what happened when my consciousness slipped away from me. One minute I was sprinting at one of the people I hated the most in the entire world, Aymie, and then there was a pain so unbearable that I just fell straight into meaningless darkness. When I next opened my eyes I had been lying here on the forest floor, a warm, wet sensation spreading over my skin and seeping through my matted hair. There was pain in my legs, my arms, my shoulders, my neck, my head but mostly in my chest. It was more than pain in my chest, it was like someone had a burning hot spear and was ripping constantly through my skin. However it seemed that they were ripping much deeper than that, it felt like this person was ripping right into my flesh. I wanted to thrash out at whatever was killing me but my limbs would respond to my brain, I was frozen on the forest floor.

"He's vicious isn't he, the wolf; he did a better job than I ever could have wished with you."

The voice that spoke was sickeningly familiar to me from all the time I had spent gossiping to the owner, totally oblivious of the truth behind her mysterious arrival. Though, I knew had seen it, that first time she appeared in the clearing I knew that I had seen her before somewhere. My dreams, she was in my dreams every night I slept. Always stalking me down, lurking in the shadows with her brother and sister, her sickening twin siblings - Alec and Jane. She was their sister! Why hadn't I remembered before it had been too late? Aymie wanted me dead, they wanted us all dead and now she was here crouched in front of me while I was unable to move. I wasn't ready to die. I had lived for only four full years. Why was the world so furiously intent on ending my life? That was something I seemed to have inherited from my mom. She had, and was still dangerously prone to fatal misfortune and it seemed that I was too.

I had to get away. A surge of electricity flooded through my body, adrenaline _or_ fear, I didn't particularly care right now. All I was bothered about was that it freed my body slightly from its frozen state. Only one of my legs would move willingly although it still felt like there was a ten tonne weight resting on the rest of my body. I kicked at the ground, pushing myself slowly towards the back of a trunk of a tree. This wouldn't be enough to get me out of her sight; she could catch me so easily with no effort needed.

I was dead; there was no doubt about it. I intended to scream for help but I just released a tiny squeak, the pain surging up to paralyse me again, my unbearable agony increasing further and further.

"No. Don't be scared of me Renesmee," Aymie whispered, her body slinking closer to mine in a catlike fashion. "Your pain will be over soon."

It better be. If it continued to burn me like this I wasn't sure if I could hang on to consciousness in reality any longer. Unless that is what she meant. She was going to kill me, and then my pain would be over because my life would be gone for good.

My voice dwindled away with pain so no sound emerged as my lips mouthed the words: "Please, don't..."

I kicked out again but this time something slammed my leg back against my other, dislodging the broken bone in that one further. I could feel the sharpness of it protesting against my skin, increasing my pain immediately. In some ways I wanted her to kill me now, just to end all of this. I couldn't stand it anymore. She could snap my neck in less than a second, stop my stumbling heart with her bare hands by punching straight through my chest so quickly that I wouldn't even have a chance to scream and then it would be over. Her small, cool hand slid up my leg to my waist, pressing it firmly against the ground. I had no help of escaping now. My body fell limp under her grip.

"That's it." Aymie whispered again, her other hand brushing my hair gently away from the skin of my neck, her mouth now millimetres away. "I would try doing this quickly because you're so young but I haven't had the taste of blood likes yours for a while, it hasn't treated my senses for such a long time that I'd prefer to saver it as much as possible. So this will probably hurt quite a bit."

She was going to drink me! I knew that burned incredibly strongly; there was nothing more painful for a human than having your life _sucked _out of you by a set of venom coated teeth ripping through your skin. I was guessing that the pain would be just as intense for me. I let out a tiny whimper, soaking all my energy up with an attempt to push away her hand with my arm that I was able to move. The other was trapped underneath my body.

"Goodbye Renesmee." She whispered, this time her voice filled with joy. Most probably due to that she was just about to relive her own burning sensation at the back of her throat with the taste and satisfaction of my blood along with the fact that she had succeeded on her mission. I was going to be killed.

Her open mouth slid softly down up my neck towards my chin as her fingers tilted my head backwards into a perfect position for her to drink. Then the pain was nothing describable. I could feel the heat of her venom burning under my skin instantly, spreading down the veins in my neck to my shoulders, the rush of my life being drained away by the monster that secured me against the ground and the now piercing icy coldness of her hands on my neck and my waist. Everything went blurred, a smoky ring of scarlet mist surrounded my vision – the darkness was creeping closer and closer, overcoming my body. Until I let go, and everything went black.

It still burned under my skin; I could feel her teeth pressing into my throat, sucking, drinking. No breath was coming in through my mouth or my nose, but I was somehow still in reality. I was still clinging on with my nails to any dreg of my life there was left.

Then, her teeth retracted from my neck and replaced themselves on a place that must have been my cheek before pulling quickly out of there as well, leaving my body smouldering on the floor, alone. I could still feel the flames of venom licking around my body; I could still feel a wet sensation seeping out of my injuries and soaking into my shirt. I wasn't dead yet - so why had she stopped drinking.

"Renesmee!"

My dad's voice, ridden with panic and desperation. I needed to open my mouth to speak to him but my lips wouldn't move and my breath had stopped. I was still dying, still hanging on the edge.

"No, no, no!"

I didn't recognise that voice, it seemed gruff and broken, and it sounded as if the owner had just been strangled by a coil of rope. The voices were fading away, slipping out of my reach. All I could hear was a low humming like there was a bubble of water surrounding me.

A thick bubble of death.

My back hit the ground and I felt my lips part to take a breath of the air. It scratched my throat on its way down to my lungs, like a spiked wire was being forced down through my windpipe.

"CARLISLE, HELP!"

The bubble burst and everything seemed like it had just tripled in intensity, the pain, the noise, the desperation to stay alive. I let a wrangled scream escape my lips but then I couldn't hold it in any longer, and my sheer pain erupted. The screams wouldn't stop from my will, they only paused when my mouth was too full with my own blood to screech any further and I had to choke it out. The venom was burning all over the top half of my body now, boiling the blood in my veins to the extreme. There were freezing hands on my body, three, four, five of them now. Who else had come to suffer as they had to watch me die? I was so afraid of what was happening to me that I couldn't keep any control on my flailing limbs or my blood curdling screams.

"NO!" Someone else screeched. Their piercingly high pitched voice echoed around my head as if I was stood in a vast hall, the one word they spoke repeating itself again and again. All it was doing was forcing more and more terror upon me. Nothing anyone did now could help me – I was certain of that, I was too far over the edge for any return to reality. The back of my throat stung as I tried to explain how excruciating this was for me in bursts of squeals and screams.

Wait. Why should I be afraid of death? Because when it comes there is nothing you can possibly do about it. Fearing it will not stop it from swallowing up your life, no matter how hard you attempt to cling on. So when you know that death has come for you, once upon a time, you should enjoy those last moments before the wave of darkness comes. There are no second chances at living, so if you know you have some time left, make sure that you have fulfilled all your dreams, no matter how weird or strange they may be to anyone else.

I didn't have any time left, the pain was taking over, and it was coming for me _now_. Although, in the parts of my life I had lived already, I don't think I could have made it anymore perfect. I had people who loved me, people who fought for me and a brand centre to my universe. So there were all my dreams fulfilled with no trouble at all.

As well as completing your dreams before you go, you should let those closest to you know exactly how much you love them and exactly how much they mean in this world because they are so incredible.

They knew how much I loved them, they must know because my lips wouldn't move to speak, only to yell at an unbelievable volume because of the agony. I loved them more than anything; I loved them more than living itself. Living would be nothing without their presence.

It was over. I had to take my last breath of the air that we survive on, I had to take my last look around at this totally impossibly brilliant world and smile. I had to smile because all fairytales have got to have a perfect happy ending. Life is a fairytale, no matter how many times it has hurt you. Life is a fantastically unreal and unbelievable gift; it can throw absolutely anything in your path and provide you with happiness beyond words. Though you don't always realise how perfect it is at the time.

So why should I be upset when I'm leaving it? Instead, I needed be happy. Be happy that I have had a chance to savour life and been able to live it and try and forget, that it's over and it's time to let go.

It was time. I shut my eyes, and then opened them to get one last look at everything I loved so much. My father was crouched over me; his eyes open wider than wide like he too was burning with me. It was almost humorous that he looked almost like he was going to scream a painfully high scream to sing in harmony with mine. Seeing him look like this made tears fill my eyes, he couldn't bear to let me go. My mother had appeared on my left, she was sliding her hands up and down my body. It was nice, a slight temporary cooling to the fire but nothing strong enough to mute any single part completely. She was screaming something unintelligible to me but something that made her really mad, her expression showed me that. Was she angry at me for coming here? I didn't want to leave her like this, but the pain was crushing me. My grandfather on his knees next to Edward, his hands touching my limbs where the bone felt completely crumbled to me. And someone else further back, the new found centre to my life Jacob Black, looking completely horrified. I wanted to talk to them, tell them that I was sorry for getting into this mess and how much I would miss them. How much I loved them.

I turned the corners of my lips up into a faint smile, though I was surprised that I could still move them when everything else was now paralysed. Then I let them drop, let my eyelids slide shut and let death take over, leaving their horrified expressions floating at the back of my memory.

It was dark and silent. I was sinking slowly into nothingness.

The silence was torturing, but the pain still persisted to burn throughout my body. I was dead, wasn't that enough for whatever sick being craved my existence to be destroyed? Or would this all be over soon? Maybe I was still on the edge, still laid on the floor with my families hands pressed to my corpse. I couldn't feel anything other than burning, ripping, tearing, grazing, agony, so I had almost certainly left them. There were no shouts for me to hear, no textures for me to feel with my fingertips to give any indication to where I was and there was nothing to see because all that was in my vision at the moment was my eyelids, securely soldered together. I needed to get out of this, but I couldn't find any way to reach the light again. It was like a bottomless, sideless, roofless abyss with no doors or tunnels to provide me with an escape route where my fall into death lasted for what seemed like forever.

I had no idea how long it had been when it started again, the excruciation of burning. The flames were engulfing my body, more intense around my heart like a blowtorch was shooting streaks of fire directly at my chest from all angles possibly. It must have scorched my skin away by now. _This_ had to be the end because; I didn't think it could possibly get any worse.

My index finger twitched, rubbing against soft material underneath me.

My finger twitched?

I could move? When did that happen? Even if it was just a finger or an eyelid, that was something!

I opened my eyes, ignoring the tearing pain that ripped away at my heart every time that I felt it beat. My vision was blurred like someone had plunged me underwater, the light burning my pupils just like chlorine in a swimming pool when you dare to open your eyes without goggles. Above me, something was gleaming, something unnaturally bright. I tried to scrunch my eyes back together to escape the pain but all I could manage was sliding them terribly slowly so my lids finally shielded me from the flashes. Was this heaven? I was told that in heaven there were angels and perfectly white, gleaming clouds floating across the sky. All the people lost from the world previously wandering around in peace. Not this! Unless this was hell, in which case I was here to suffer. It made sense, the searing agony than ran through my body was a punishment, a punishment from the devil. What had I done to end up here instead of the white clouds above?

Oh, right. I suppose killing six innocent humans to fuel my need to fight in the battle that had taken my life would be classed as an inexcusable sin by Satan or whoever else had decided my fate. I opened my eyes again. If this was a punishment, then I may as well serve it right now, there was no point in waiting for anything anymore.

There was the light above me, set on a solid surface. It was a white, plastic panelled surface spreading out on either side of the light bulb.

Light bulb? What was this, a futuristic form of hell? The devil's private torture chamber?

There was something stuck to my face, covering my mouth and my nose. It smelt of sickly chemicals, stinging my throat and my eyes with their bleach scented stench. Something was wrapped tightly around my leg, skin tight and solid. Perhaps it was something to hold me here on whatever I was laid on when the torture started. It was wrapped around one of my arms as well, my shoulder and around my chest. I wanted to let out another scream from the pain but what would be the point? My torturer would only gain pleasure from my obvious suffering, so instead I just squeezed my lids together and braced myself for whatever was coming.

"Renesmee?"

Here goes. I was ready, ready for anything they could possibly throw at me. Yet, that sounded like a question, why would they need to ask if I was here when I was clearly fixed to this hard surface in front of them? They probably wanted to torture me with their words before the physical part, the lashings from a spiked whip and burning from a raging fire. That would all come later. They must have been checking if I was conscious to start their procedures. I opened my eyes again, the room clearer now. There was a mess a wires across my face and something plastic strapped securely to my skin that was out of my recognisable view. I wasn't interested in where I was, or what was happening to me, or even if I was in any more pain than before. I was only interested in the figure crouched next to me.

"Renesmee, can you hear me?" The velvety voice spoke again to me while a cool sensation slid across my leg. "Fight, you have to fight it, please fight."

_Dad._

Why was he with me, in hell?

Please say my mom hadn't killed herself when I'd died. Dad would only kill himself for my mother's death and there was no way that he had been murdered by one of those cloaked enemies in the clearing. My mom, she can't have...

But that made perfect sense because here he was, in hell with me, while she was probably up in heaven with her impeccably clean murder record. My stupidity had brought down myself _and _two of the most beautiful people in the entire world – and in this case, I meant beautiful inside and out. Oh god.

I felt a film of water flood into my eyes, clouding the room further so everything was just a blur once again.

"Renesmee, you're not dead." My dad spoke, an attempt at a reassurance that also came out like a question. "It's all going to be alright. Please hang on, please."

I was hanging. I would grip to reality with my teeth if I had to just to stay with him.

Dad's expression was ecstatic. He shook his head in disbelief, like he thought this was some sort of dream and then reached out his finger to my face – weaving it in and out of the wires to touch my skin. It felt so incredible because I suddenly knew what he was saying was perfectly true.

I was alive.

So was he.

I was going to be okay.

He reached down to grab something below the bed I lay on but his gaze remained on me. Perhaps it was for the same reason that I persisted to look at him. I was afraid that he would disappear in a puff of ruby red smoke, ending my perfect little fantasy so the torture could commence.

"Bella," His voice sounded like he was singing into the cell now pressed to his ear. What I would give for the smile on his face to be able to stay there for all eternity. It killed me to see both mom and dad hurt. "Come inside love, quickly."

_Where is she? Where am I?_

I asked the question in my head. My voice would not have produced any sound if I had tried and the mask that was plastered to my face wouldn't have allowed me to anyway.

"She went hunting darling." He whispered, running his hand across my cheekbone. "After three weeks, it was getting too hard for her to resist with all the blood around. She didn't _want_ to hurt anyone."

He muffled a laugh and pulled his finger away from my face.

_What's so funny?_

"Well, I literally had to push her out that door. She didn't want to go, to leave you here, even with me swearing that I wouldn't leave this room for anything."

Oh. Wait. I backed up the conversation, running what he'd said through in my mind...

Three weeks! She had prevented herself from hunting for three whole weeks, while she was sat in a building full of what she thirsted for the most. She'd sat through the burning craving for blood in her throat for nearly a whole month?

"Renesmee, you've been in here, in that coma for three weeks, surely you must have had some recognition..."

My mind was buzzing so hard that I didn't catch the end of his sentence, but it wasn't the only thing distracting me. The fire was starting again in my heart and the aches reinstating themselves in my limbs. They weren't restarting, just coming back to my overly divided attention. It hurt, more than hurt. It killed – and it seemed so much worse than before now I was conscious.

Where was the morphine, the anaesthetic?

I kicked my moving leg up into the air, sending a sheet flying to the left. My eyes widened to their limits. This was unbearable; I couldn't stay in this world much longer if all it brought was burning.

I couldn't stay here if all I had was a burning horizon.

The abyss would catch up with me again, I'd fall back into it, and this time I don't think I'd be able to pull myself back out alone.

The door swung open.

My mom stepped in. Her mouth was hanging open and she had a bewildered expression on her face. Her gawp soon flurried into an elated grin as soon as she set eyes on me. I couldn't hold it any longer. The water flushed up and spilled over from my eyes and I let out a strangled scream.

Before I could take another breath, her hands were on either side my face.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, rubbing both thumbs under my eye lids to wipe away the droplets that continued to fall. "You're safe now, it's all over. No one's going to hurt you."

I knew I was safe but the agony...

I had so many questions to ask that my mouth would not allow to be spoken without screaming it, surely piercing any weak eardrums within hearing range.

"It's the venom inside her Bella. It's still in her system from before and from yesterday." My father's forehead creased, his hands fiddling quickly with the tubes around me. As if they could possibly help anything I felt now, it was so impossibly strong that drugs would hardly start to reduce the pain. "But the morphine, it muted the pain you felt in your transformation. So why isn't it working on her now?"

Why did I have venom in my body from yesterday? I had been inside the confines of this hospital yesterday so unless there had been a breach of security allowing another troop of enemies to try and bump me off, it didn't make any sense to me. That was even more venom added to presumably what was Aymie's to rage around my veins, scorching anything it could get its hands on, every single cell in my body.

"About that," Mom dropped her eyes to the floor.

Dad's voice was suddenly as flat as lemonade from a bottle that had been left open for days. "Go on..."

"When you changed me, the morphine paralysed my body so I couldn't thrash around or scream about my pain. Until the very end, when I held in my screams because of you, because I knew you were hurting just as much as me. But the pain, it was like someone had soaked my body in corrosive acids and left me to die. I know how you felt when you were trying to describe it to me; words don't give it justice..." She trailed of as she caught the expression on dad's face.

He turned his head to the side, literally choking out the words. "You felt... you were... no!"

"I'm sorry I lied to you but I was so happy and you were too, it was all so perfect. Even more so when you thought I'd had no suffering but I could handle it, and it was only three days, piece of cake really." She whispered, her voice falling in volume as she watched dad's expression turn sadder and sadder.

"Bella..." He groaned, letting his face fall into his hands. "Please say you're lying to me, just this once I'd be happy that you were."

"Don't take the blame for this as well, you saved my life Edward." She broke her gaze from me and sighed at the same time as I died a little further inside. It wasn't his blame to take for that pain she felt, it was all mine. I lost control of my mouth, belting out another scream louder than the first.

Mom slipped her gaze back to me, pressing her lips to my forehead softly and then to the top of dad's head. "I'll fetch Carlisle sweetie, it's going to be fine, promise."

She swept out the room, leaving a cool sensation lingering on my skin. I screamed again. Another set of teardrops streaming furiously down my cheeks onto the pillowcase.

"Ssh," Dad whispered, raising his head from his cupped hands. "Carlisle will help you."

His face startled me. He looked fairly composed, but under the mask I could see his eyes were smouldering with anger. He caught _my_ seemingly intimidated expression and swung his head back down.

I managed to hold the fits of tears away for long enough to ask another silent question.

_Why are you angry at her? _

He spoke against his fingers, not moving.

"I'm not angry at her. I could never be angry at your mother. I can be frustrated at her, yes, sometimes, but never angry. I am only angry at myself." I could swear I saw him digging his nails into his skin. "Why are the results of my actions always inflicted on you or Bella? Why not me? I'm the only one who deserves any of it."

Not his blame game again. He couldn't seem to grasp the fact that the blame didn't always have to fall on him, there didn't always need to be blame for everything anyway.

_It's not your fault, I'm fine._

Another scream came right on cue, making my previous statement almost humorous. He looked up again, sliding his left hand forward towards mine.

"You're a little soldier aren't you?"

_I am your little soldier. _I corrected.

I felt his skin brush against mine. I twisted my little finger around to reach what I hoped was his, curling it around tightly like a link in a chain. Just as I had when I had been spending what might have been my last moments with him before a snivelling enemy had dragged me away into the shadows. He squeezed mine lightly, a small smile replacing his severe grimace. That just made the tears fall thicker and faster. I had so many different emotions behind them that I was too confused to think straight anymore. So I pressed my eyelids together and flicked through the images of the ones I loved in the back of my mind. Lingering on the towering image of Jacob Black for longer than anybody else, I loved him, in such a different way to my family. Maybe one day, I could love him like my parents love each other. To love somebody that intensely and freely, and to know that you couldn't live without the other, would be truly incredible.

The ice cold ring around my little finger got tighter as every fantasy of my perfect future with Jake that drifted through my mind. I knew that my parents weren't exactly delighted that Jacob had fallen deeply in love with me, when I was four years of age, but what harm had he done? Just because we weren't the same species or the same age, it doesn't mean we can't have any sort of relationship together! I mean, it didn't stop either of them did it? So if they ever used that as an excuse to try and right me, I always had my hypocritical backup argument. They were just going to have to grit their teeth and get over the fact that I and Jacob Black loved each other.

The ring was extremely tight around my finger now. I could feel the blood fighting its way through my compressed veins with difficulty. What I wouldn't give to have my mind protected like my mother's right now so my thoughts could be freed of any unwilling eavesdroppers - especially when the ones that are listening will hate every single thing that I'm thinking.

"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable," Carlisle's voice hovered above me but I didn't open my eyes or I would drown everyone in tears again. The tears I could hold – just about, the screams I could not. "When was her last morphine dosage Edward?"

"The morphine doesn't help anything; it doesn't do anything to mute the burning. Bella will explain it later to you later but can we help Renesmee first? The venom is near to unbearable for her." Another shot of ice on my skin, running down horizontally against the fire. So maybe having an open, readable mind wasn't always so bad. "She can hear you if you want to ask her opinion."

"Was it better when you were asleep Renesmee, the pain?"

I screamed, unable to produce any solid words.

My father answered for me. "Yes, it was a little better."

I heard a fumbling around me with a sliding of several draws and then someone gripped my left arm firmly just below my shoulder. That was followed by a sharp jab through my skin that made my eyes flicker back open in shock. There was a large needle implanted in my skin with a cable that draped up to an IV above me, the point that the metal was inserted into my skin was covered by a patch of flexible white plastic. I may not have been able to speak but I could hear! A little warning perhaps... My thoughts melted into liquid as I heard dad chuckling.

"We'll see you in the morning darling." Mom was leant over my bed, smiling down at me with an expression so delighted she could have just won the lottery three times in a row. "_I love y-o-u-u s-o m-u-u-c-h_."

The room started to blur again and the last words of my mom's sentence trailed off into a low hum. I let the last of my tears dribble down my cheeks and closed my eyes and for once in a long time, I felt safe and comfortable and loved.


	15. Chapter 14

AN; Hey! Thank you very much, again, for getting this far if you have! I've been a preoccupied with the sequel for this book and so forgot to upload – but, here you go. I hope you enjoy! By the way, the chapters do have names, and I've forgotten whether I've actually put them on the uploads...

luucycoupee

Chapter Fourteen; Finally safe, or am I?

When I awoke from the drugs the small room had been brighter than before, filled with the natural bright light of dawn that filtered in through a narrow window on the wall behind me. I could block out some of the pain enough to move my limbs slightly and push some words out of my mouth starting with a mere '_Hey'_. I noticed that it wasn't just my euphoric parents who sat on two padded chairs to my right that were in the room. Carlisle and Esme were stood by the plastic window. A white coat hung down to Carlisle's knees and a red, metallic stethoscope was draped around his neck. Esme had one hand over her mouth, evidently beaming underneath as her dimples grew larger.

"How are you feeling?" Carlisle asked, stepping over and scanning his eyes across the screen of the machine next to me that was obviously monitoring my heartbeat.

"_Fine_." Dad raised one eyebrow at me, still smiling underneath his concern. "_Well, it still hurts, but a little less than yesterday"._

"We've been so worried darling, you wouldn't believe." Esme spoke, her smile stretching even wider. I managed to squeeze out my own smile, immediately lighting the eyes of my parents. "Alice and Rose will be back in a minute, they haven't stopped pacing around ever since they stopped fighting."

"_The fight..._"

Mom placed her hand on mine, cooling my skin instantly. "Don't worry about that now, just concentrate on getting better."

I had completely forgotten that the rest of my family were battling while I was knocked unconscious. When I reached the top of the cliff above the forest, I could see fires flickering around the mass of people. Fires with huge columns of smoke towering into the sky, fires that _had_ took lives but the lives of whom exactly? Who had died fighting for me and my family?

"_Why is there venom in me from so recently? Its burning me like a fire."_

Speaking hurt too, but only a spiky tickle in the back of my throat and it was so much of a relief to have control of my lips and tongue again without the screeches bursting in every second.

"I bit you, more times than one, so the venom would fix your breaks and heal your chest but it seems vampire venom isn't so compatible with you." Dad ran his fingers over a crescent moon shape on my wrist as he spoke.

"We think it's going to be in your system for a while, it can't fix what needs fixing and no transformation is happening." Carlisle said.

_Oh great._

"I still can't get my head around it." Mom whispered, stroking my skin with her fingertips. "Will you show me, show me absolutely everything. I have a feeling that they did more than keep you hostage whatever your father says, and about Aymie ... show me."

I was reluctant. Whatever I would show her, she really didn't want to see – though she did not understand that yet because they _did _do more than keep me hostage. I couldn't see how she would enjoy watching what happened and my father would not enjoy watching the earlier parts all over again. However, Mom would manage to coax the truth out of me sometime soon so I may as well give it to her now. I stared up at the ceiling, touching her hand with my fingertip and remembering every torturing moment as clear as crystal. Re-enacting my meals in my mind was the hardest thing of all. It brought forward the realisation that I had not fed for three weeks and after drinking several pulsing humans each day I was in their captivity, the burn at the back of my throat was stronger than it should be. I changed the subject of my thoughts, showing Jane's torture sessions and Aro's attempts at pulling me to his side as an accomplice. Those discussions turned more and more into threats as time passed by. Threats of murderous 'accidents' and very unfortunate deaths of loved ones if I did not cooperate with them and agree to their wishes. Then as they left for the fight, Aro whispered something that chilled me to the bone.

"We will slaughter them all tonight, your mother and father, your stinking wolf pack, your friends and the rest of your insolent little Cullen family, and then you will join us. Even if you won't join willingly, we'll just have to use a bit of force won't we." Then he had stroked me. How he had dared to even lay one single fingertip on my skin after everything that had happened was a mystery. The way he had touched me though, was not something I was even slightly comfortable with one bit. He'd stroked his hand down my body in a way that reminded me of my vivid fantasies of my future with Jacob. Reminded me of how I yearned for him to do that to me, to do more than hug and talk and play. Then he put his other hand on the side of my cheek and put his face so close to mine that I feared he was going to kiss me with his dry, papery lips. Instead he had just whispered, his sickly sweet breath making the room around me spin. "If for some absurd and impossible reason, any of them manage to survive tonight, I will promise you one thing Renesmee Cullen. You _will_ still join us and _you_ will kill them and you _will_ be mine."

"Renesmee, you don't have to show us if it's upsetting you." Mom started to pull her hand out from my overly tight grip. "I didn't mean to force you."

I shook my head, wiping the new wetness off my cheek slowly with the hand that was free of any plaster and gripped her hand even tighter.

Flickering from the menacing fires, terrifying snarls from the twisting people around me, my mom lying as limp as a corpse in dad's arms, towering clumps of the smoke that were thickened with the sweet essence of death, Aymie's body slinking closer to mine with her lips curled wickedly back over those razor teeth and then the black. Nothing seemed to be solid anymore. There were only bursts and dregs left in my mind from what had happened that night.

"Renesmee!" Someone squealed, interrupting my thoughts completely. Rose curled one of her slender hands around my face and used the other to brush away the tears that trickled down my skin. "Thank god, thank god."

I touched her arm with my fingertip and showed her own ecstatic expression to her with my happiness alongside it.

"I'd thought we'd lost you," she whispered, beaming as I let my memories fill my mind of our time together in Majorca before Alec and Jane stole me away to Italy. "I was so, so worried. I can't even believe..."

She trailed off and let her hand slip away from my face, still grinning. Alice leant around her with a serious expression that too flickered to a beam as soon as she saw me living and breathing for herself.

"You're a monster," she whispered.

I let a giggle slip through my lips for the first time in a long while and closed my eyes. Someone ran their fingers through my hair again and again as I nestled my face into the pillow and fell into my dream world.

It was such a relief to be out of the frustratingly bland rooms of the hospital and back to the warmth of the place I called home. As soon as dad had carried me out of those doors extremely carefully into the open air, I felt as if half the venom had drained away in the couple of minutes it had taken for him to walk down to the reception. Ever since I'd been laid here on the couch in front of the electric heater, I hadn't moved an inch. There was no need when I had eight people literally begging on their knees to let them help me. Rose had told me before any of this nightmare about how easily I'd wrapped everyone around my little fingers before I could even speak and I could see that those connections hadn't been damaged at all by time.

_Where are you going?_ I queried in my head as I was afraid that if my lips got a chance to open again, the sobs would find it only too easy to re-emerge from the mush of emotions in my head. My crying fit earlier had come without any warning. I had just found myself suddenly bawling for a reason unknown to me! That was something that had mom so worried that she insisted on cradling me in her arms. She was now stood with dad, a small leather bag swung over her shoulder.

"The pack wanted to meet up with us and everyone else who fought; we haven't seen any of them since that night." Dad said while a new sadness that I did not recognise filled his eyes. "It's also a memorial, for the ones the Volturi..."

For the ones the Volturi killed, right. I hadn't had chance to think about the people I'd grew to know and love, who might have perished under our enemies unforgiving shadow. It was obvious from my family's attitudes that our side had not won, however it was also obvious that we had not lost. For if we had, none of them would be standing here now, they would have been burnt that night on the raging fires dotted around that clearing that I could remember so well. So what had happened while I'd been so pathetically idiotic nearly getting myself killed? Names were suddenly whizzing around my head like miniature rockets, Kate, Tanya, and Zafrina, which ones of them had died because of us?

"Rose is going to stay here with you," He continued.

_I'm coming. _

Dad looked up from the floor and smiled a forced smile that was still packed with despair. "How are planning to do that exactly?"

I didn't know how I was; just that I needed to know what was going on. No one had given the slightest hint away to me about what had happened while I'd been whisked away to the nearest hospital and every time I managed to produce enough strength to bring it up in a conversation – the subject was always changed immediately. There was no way of pulling me out of this tornado now that I had been plunged so far into it – its winds would continue to wreck havoc with my life until the source of it all was eliminated. If the people out there who'd tried to slaughter us all were still walking around on the surface of this earth, our trouble was far from over. Perhaps, the full force of what they could do to us, had not even hit yet, perhaps the wrath of the storm was still brewing...

_Are you taking the car?_

"Even if we were, it wouldn't make the slightest difference Renesmee."

"Please." I whispered. Dad shook his head firmly from side to side with a sincere expression on his face – one that I had learnt to break so easily.

Four minutes later and I was curled up in dad's arms in the passenger seat of Emmett's mud splattered black jeep that made all the other cars on the moonlit road look like insignificant insects as we cruised past. The looming forest on both sides of the snaking road sped past the window, occasionally being lit by the rare gleaming streetlight. But the beams of light only lit small pools of light on the floor and a couple of tree trunks, nothing I was interested in seeing right now. Both of the back seats in the car were taken up with machinery I was totally unaware of the individual purposes of – all I knew was that they were there to keep my heart beating and the air flowing into my lungs. Carlisle had prised all the unnecessary needles out of my skin for our little expedition, leaving only one connected to a thin, curly pipe and another which was covered by thick, white gauze. One of these was an attempt at banishing the pain from my injuries and I had no idea whatsoever if it was succeeding as the burn from the venom swamped every other physical feeling I had in my body. It was now so dominant that even my sense of touch had been reduced to meaningless tingles in the ends of my fingertips which were proving extremely frustrating. I closed my eyes and nestled my face into the fragrant creases of dad's cotton shirt.

"What are we going to do with you, hey?" he mumbled, slowly easing the strands of my hair trapped between my face and his chest out with his thumb.

"Keep her safe, that's what!" Mom whispered softly from the driver's seat. "I won't let anyone or anything else hurt you Renesmee, ever, I swear."

I pulled my face out of the ruffles of material and looked up at my mom. She took one hand off the padded steering wheel and stretched her arm out so she could reach over to my face. With one finger she traced a line along my skin just underneath the pipe that was taped securely under my nose until she reached my ear, leaving a seemingly warm streak on my skin. The fact that I was actually colder than my icy skinned parents was starting to seriously worry me, along with the fact that none of my injuries or pain were improving at all! The wolves racing healing process would come in serious use to me right now. Mom's hand lingered there on my skin while she looked down at me, a stunning smile on her face while her eyes were fiercely determined.

There was a deafening screech as the car jerked forward unexpectedly. I caught sight of my dad's hand on the steering wheel as the car spun around uncontrollably on the rain sodden road before he slammed the hand brake down with so much force that I was surprised that it didn't fly immediately out of its socket. Spurts of mud flew up into the air from the ground, splattering all the windows until we finally came to a halt right in front of several humongous trees. There was a few seconds of silence until my fit of hysteric giggles broke in. Neither of them joined me in my sudden feeling of humour. Both of their expressions were severe – I understood why immediately. The promise of keeping me safe had lasted little more than a minute, maybe keeping _me_ safe was impossible.

"I'm so sorry," Mom whispered, her voice was so quiet that I could barely hear her speak. "I wasn't looking, I should have kept my eye on the road, sorry..."

"Bells, nothing happened." Dad murmured, tilting my head backwards and then gently side to side as if he was inspecting any damage caused – which was none _this time_. "Just as long as nothing does tonight, that's all we have to worry about."

She nodded and replaced both of her hands firmly on the steering wheel, pressing down the acceleration and jetting the car off into the ebony night again with a wary expression on her face. I shut my eyes and let beautiful dreams flood into my mind, only they were missing the most important person, Jacob. I hadn't set eyes on him since I'd been crouched on top of the cliff in Italy, my mind tearing to two as I had to choose between running to him or parents. The only factor that ultimately swayed my decision to plummeting through to air to land on the side of the rock where my dad knelt with mom laying limp in his arms had been that I feared she was dead. If they had both been on their feet, twisting and turning around the vast maze of bodies, I would have sprung down to join Jacob amongst the raging fires around him. He would be here tonight, obviously. From what I had been told, the whole of the remaining pack was attending what seemed to be turning into a memorial rather than a 'meeting'. I needed to see that breathtaking grin flash onto his face again for when it did, my day brightened up instantly. It was like our feelings were connected, I'm down, he seems down, and he's elated, I'm ecstatic! My mind craved the sight of him so badly that I couldn't think of anything else. His face was the only picture floating gently amongst the darkness of sleep.

I felt warm, overly warm. There was a pulsing heat in the air that was caressing the air around me. There was no longer a pair of curved arms supporting my body perfectly; instead I was laid on a hard surface with a soft, squishy pillow under my head. I let one eye open but instantly shut it as a reflex to the amount of light in front of me. It was a huge mass of swirling flames creating glowing streaks on the blanket of night cloaked over the sky. Fire was something I adored watching, the curls and spirals of the smoke entranced me so much, however it was one of the things I was most afraid of in the entire world. Fire was one of the only things that could bring an end to my family's lives so easily. Those beautiful patterns of the orange flickers were just a mystifying way of inviting my kind to death. There was no worse way to die than burning in my opinion – I had burnt so much from the venom flowing through my veins that I feared my body would be left a smoking pile of black ashes on the floor and I couldn't imagine a more excruciating way to end your life.

I shuffled backwards awkwardly as far as I could which my casts and wires and the solid surface behind me, before opening my eyes again. Above me was the overhanging shape of an open car boot that was just an odd silhouette against the smoke ridden sky above me. I dropped my gaze down to the humongous ball of flames directly opposite me and then I realised that there was a ring of slender figures surrounding the fire. The closes faces to me were the familiar ones of Carlisle, Esme, Jasper, Alice, Rose, Emmett, dad and mom. If any one of them had lost their lives in that fight, I don't know how any of us would have got over it. We were a group and even if one person was removed, nothing would be the same again. I couldn't even bear to think what losing someone would do to that person's mate, if I lost Jacob, it would be impossible to wake up in the morning with a willingness to live and breathe on this planet. A few metres further round, the glowing halo of fire lit up two more familiar faces – Zafrina and Senna. Though Kachiri was not stood tall by their side, after a quick scan around the rest of the faces I realised she was not there at all. I looked back to Zafrina and the look on her intimidating face told me everything I needed to know. Kachiri wasn't stood in the circle of my friends and family, whose hands were all linked in an uneven chain circling the entire circumference of the burning wood, because she no longer physically existed. She had burnt away on those petrifying towers of flames back in that deadly clearing. Every time I realised that one person or sometimes several were missing from the separate groups of our friends, a fresh rip was created in my heart. If I hadn't been so stupid under the burning sun of the island we'd visited on holiday, and been more careful than running at top speed down a footpath where humans watched on in awe at the impossible speed I moved, perhaps things wouldn't have come to a violent end. Dad insisted that it had not been my accidental betrayal of the law that was the purpose of the battle they'd fought so hard in. Instead, the Volturi were just waiting patiently for one tiny, insignificant spark, to set off their bombs of violence and sickening torture. A spark I provided them with. After looking across the ghostly faces of every pale skinned figure in the circle I'd counted quite a significant amount of people who had lost their amazing lives. Kachiri, Peter and Charlotte, Eleazar and Carmen – who I'd become extremely attached to after all the Denali's help witnessing for my parents innocence when the Volturi falsely accused them of creating an immortal child, Amun, Alistair, Makenna and Maggie were also all missing from the ring. Next to all the faces that I recognised were a small group of females that I had never seen before. There were four of them overall, all with innocent, angelic faces. It was hard to believe that they had fought the most deadly predators we knew. However, on their faces and down their arms were intricate patterns of recent bite marks that reflected the light from the fire up into the open sky. How strange that these people had decided so suddenly to fight for a coven that they had never associated themselves with before - and how sad that they had lost members of their group, that was easy to tell by their agonised expressions. I wasn't sure if I could even bring myself to look over to where the dark skinned figures of the wolf pack stood for the sheer sadness that had overcome my body. There were tears hanging on my long eyelashes, just waiting for the chance to spill over and trickle helplessly down my icy cheeks.

The first thing that hit me was there was no Sam, only a distraught Emily clutching something red tightly to her chest. There were shimmering tears sliding down her face, following the jagged lines that her fiancée had engraved into her skin so long ago, the scars he had never forgiven himself for. But now he was gone and all that remained of him were the memories...

I scanned the rest of the small group who stood several paces aside from my family and Carlisle's friends. No Quil, no Colin and no Brady. Then something smacked me straight in the face, no Jacob. My hands started to shake viciously, the tears flooding out like a river that had burst its banks. He couldn't have ... died. He had to be hiding somewhere; perhaps the darkness was shading him so much that his face wasn't visible to me. It made sickly sense though, he had not come to see me while I'd been in so much pain, no one had even mentioned his name, he had gone...

Carlisle was announcing something in a grave tone to the circle but my sense of hearing had blurred so much that it was now impossible to recognise any of the words he spoke. Instead of making an attempt to remain in full reality, I allowed the tears to flow harder than ever before and the mist of disbelief fill my mind while staring into the centre of the flames. I wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear but I couldn't find the effort inside me to move a single inch. To think that I would never see that grin appear on his childish face again, to think that I would never feel the rush of excitement when I saw him waiting for me outside every single morning again, was unbearable. I would do anything for the ability to stand up and fling myself into that fire, anything for those flames to be the last thing I ever saw...

The tears rolled faster and stronger down my face, dripping off my chin to soak into the thick layer of blankets and rugs mom had insisted on bundling me in as if I was wrapped in an unbreakable cocoon like a butterfly. With every burst of the salty droplets, a small choking sound now emerged, and it seemed like every time one did it took a chunk of my heart with it.

"Renesmee?" Alice's pixie like face appeared centimetres from mine, it was slightly distorted by the glassy film of water that was still constantly feeding teardrops down onto my skin. The flickering fire behind her made her sheet white skin glow unnaturally in the darkness as a louder choking sound erupted from deep in my body. "Hey, hey, what's up?"

I couldn't answer her. I didn't even want to answer her. There was no point if Jacob was gone. There wasn't a point to anything anymore. All I wanted was to see his devious grin, see those dark, black eyes alive with humour, even just to hear his voice would satisfy me. But that was never going to happen, no matter how many shooting stars I managed to hook a wish on because he was gone!

"Edward!" she shouted.

There was a couple of seconds where all I could see was Alice's anxious face in front of mine until my dad almost knocked her over in his rush to reach me.

"Renesmee, what's wrong?" As if _he_ needed to ask – surely my heartbreakingly hysterical thoughts were pretty clear for him to read. He slipped his hands under my back, supporting my head in the fold of one elbow and the backs of my plaster covered legs in the other. I didn't make any effort to acknowledge his expression or the words that came after that. Instead, I just hung limp as a corpse in his arms with my eyes closed and my mind closed to anything else but the last memory I had of Jacob Black – repeating the last words he ever whispered to me over and over in my head. If I lost that, I don't think I would even be able to find the energy to breathe anymore.

"Jacob Black isn't here because Bella told him never to come near us again..." I heard out of the constant, worried mumbles in my ear. My own mother had banned him from approaching any of us.

He was still living.

"Why?" I sobbed through the torrents of tears that were still spilling down my cheeks; the chunks of my heart that had escaped were suddenly flying back to me creating stabbing plunges of happiness as I took in what he had implied. Jacob would never get himself killed, he was so strong, so unbelievably strong and if he did, he'd have _me_ to deal with when I saw him next – if I ever finally got a grip on myself. There was a nauseous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Knowing how traumatising losing him would be for me was dizzying, I wondered if that was what he had to endure for the month everyone assumed me almost physically dead. Had he even known that I'd been injured in the battle, or had whatever event that had got him banished from being in our presence prevented him from discovering the truth of what Aymie did to me that night. If he had suffered that for all of the painfully long time I was inside my bubble of unconscious death, how had he not crumpled to the ground and lost all hope of living?

"I...he..." Dad started but he interrupted himself almost immediately with a staggered groan. I needed to know what Jacob had done that was so bad he was not allowed to see me but the wave of exhaustion from my fit of tears had already swept over me, plunging me into freakish darkness.

All I could see then were masses of colour - crimson reds, blinding yellows, and flaming blues surrounding me. Heat was radiating onto my skin at an uncomfortable temperature and it was only after a couple of minutes that I realised that the spectacular colours were the groping fingers of a fire – circling me so I had no hope of escaping with my life intact. The burning heat made the air around the flames tremble and the objects behind seem distorted as if they were deep underwater. I shut my eyes as tight as I possibly could in an attempt to hide from the fire, but however hard I tried to forget that it was there, I was constantly reminded of its reality by the burn that had now spread all over my body. I opened my eyes the slightest bit but it allowed me to see all I needed to see. Instead of my white cotton t-shirt and denim jeans, there was a sea of flickering flames covering my skin, melting my clothes into a pile meaningless ashes that my burning body would soon be added to. All I could do was scream as loud as I could – that was my one hope of escaping what had become my worst nightmare possible, fire. The scream tickled the back of my sore throat like barbed wire was being forced through my mouth.

"Renesmee? Renesmee, it's just a dream darling," Mom whispered anxiously. I realised that it wasn't just in my mind that I was producing a painfully high screech; all it took was one sharp breath to bring myself into the dim light and to the rippling surface of sleep fully. That was all it was, a nightmare. I knew that my parents, Jacob, my family, would never allow that petrifying dream to come true! However, just imagining myself in that situation brought trembling into my hands and fresh tears to snake their way down my cheeks again. I let the droplets fall and buried my face in my mom's jacket to hide my eyes from even the slightest bit of light coming from the plastic panel set into the jeeps roof – just in case what it lit was another torturing, painful scene.

"I think she's sick or something..." She said, her voice extremely worried now. I _felt_ sick, that nausea from earlier had not faded one bit. There was a thin sheen of sweat on my skin as if that raging fire had been real; the heat on my skin had felt so realistically warm that it was still hard to believe that my traumatic scene had just been a figure of my imagination.

"Next time, we don't listen to what she wants to do." Dad said, his voice as panicked as moms as the jeep speed up a fraction, rumbling viciously and bouncing up and down as we drove along an uneven track that was undoubtedly heading towards our house.

Unsteady motion and an unsettled stomach didn't exactly go together very well. It only created a thick lump in my throat and a sour, disgusting taste in my mouth that I wanted to rinse my mouth out immediately. Whatever was in my stomach was churning around and around so fast that it felt like my stomach was being tied in a hundred knots.

"She's going to throw up Bella." Dad warned. I still had my face pressed into the warm material. The heat and lack of air increased the unpleasant sensation inside my stomach. "Now."

It was like his word was the press of a trigger. As soon as it left his lips there was a surge of something tight inside my body until the sensation reached my mouth where the taste was so disgusting that I had to open my lips to try and get rid of it – a bad decision. There was a flow of heat down my throat and then something was filling my mouth, the taste was one of the worst that had ever touched my tongue. I pulled my head away from the warmth of the fluffy jacket with such speed that the liquid in my stomach sloshed around so much that it spilled right out of my mouth. It was an odd sensation – one I had never, ever experienced before. When Aymie erased my memories and my breathing had ceased, I had blood flowing from my mouth as I result of my father's medical skills. However, this seemed so different. It was so much more disgusting. I choked up another lot of the bitter tasting substance and let a couple of new tears join the droplets of sweat on my forehead.

"Edward," Mom hissed, her tone jumping up an octave in the middle of the word. "What's wrong with her? Is this normal?"

I didn't hear a reply, perhaps they had communicated through their eyes as they did so often. That was something Jake and I had learned to do quite successfully now as well. Usually behind the backs of Mom and Dad – right before Dad would turn around and shoot a disapproving expression at Jake. If only time could rewind and I could revisit that happiness. It had been so perfect.

I heard the engine groan at the ridiculous speed we seemed to be driving. If we passed a speed camera, I would be surprised if it had chance to take a photo before we shot of into the night. Instead of suffering this dreadful feeling for another half hour I squeezed my eyes shut and drifted off into my frequently disturbed sleep once again with the slightest hope inside me that everything would work out alright - alongside the masses of terror for the thought that it might not.


	16. Chapter 15

{AN; Hey all! Right, I'm off to Spain for five days with school. This is the penultimate chapter! Then I will be uploading my second book so far! Shout out to my dedicated readers such as; DizzyIzzyCullen, TwilightandJBfan, McKStar, rcmarra12304, Twilight Lover, poeticallyflawed, futurewritergirl, ashleytisdalerocks, angie, The Moonlight Ninja...

much love!3}

_Chapter Fifteen: How can he even dare?_

"Bells, he wants to talk to _you._" Dad growled. "He won't leave at all until he's seen you! The others can't touch him because the whole pack is there and it isn't them who are the problem here. There is no need to harm innocents – just him."

I saw mom's face turned to an expression of disgust as if there was a revolting sight in the room as I opened my eyes. "What if _I_ don't want to talk to him?"

I was back in the warm, safe living room of our house. My body was no longer being supported by hard arms; instead the padded cushions seemed to curve perfectly to support my plastered leg and my back.

"I know you don't Bella and I really, really don't want to let you go anywhere near that idiot, but would you rather he came here?" Dad hissed, making a small slit in my skin with the sharp nail of his thumb and inserting a long, threatening looking needle into my arm. I didn't even wince at the sudden flash of pain, not after I'd had so recently had worse, so much worse. She considered what dad had said for a short moment and then sprung lightly to her feet and swept towards the door.

"If he even tries to get past me..." Mom mumbled as she slipped her black cell phone into the large pocket of her jacket. "I swear to god he's over."

Dad looked down at my horrified expression and sighed deeply, inserting another pack of needles into the inner side of my arm.

"She doesn't have it in her to kill him Nessie. I know that for certain," he whispered, his eyes flickering between me and the door where mom had just exited – I knew how protective he was. To let her go alone like this towards possible danger (whoever that may be) demanded an enormous amount of mental strength.

There was a loud, short belt of wicked sounding laughter from the hallway before the front door slammed shut with a bang.

_Why can't he come here! _I demanded in my head.

"It's complicated... I don't know if I should even be..." he said, his voice flat and undecided. There was fury emerging in his dark eyes.

_I love him. Let me see him! You have to let me see him! _

"Could you still love him," Dad whispered, sliding my t-shirt back so the bandages on my stomach were exposed. I wondered if anyone had bothered to remove them since they were first wrapped tightly around my body – or whether the wounds underneath were too gruesome for anyone to bear to take a peek. I had no idea if there were any wounds under there; I only knew that they were wrapped so tightly to keep my broken ribs in place. "Could you still love him if I told you that his teeth did this to you that night in Italy?"

His fingers were tracing along the ridges of the bandages smoothly, his fingernails making intricate engravings in the cloth. The swirls and flicks that he created with his force distracted me so much that his last sentence missed its opportunity to soak into my mind. All I could remember were the words; no meanings were appearing out of the clouds in my mind. So much so that he had to repeat his perfectly pronounced words again for my benefit – or as it turned out later, not for _my_ benefit at all.

"Jacob did this to you, in Italy. He nearly... he nearly killed you." He locked his jaw together like he did when there was bad smell in the room; it was as if the mention of Jacob's name brought into the room the scent that all of my family (except me of course) found so disgusting. To me his scent was a different smell entirely – he had an entrancing smell, to me it seemed musky, pleasantly warm, not a pungent stench that could clear a room. By the way my parents had tried to describe how he smelt to them, I was still mystified at how they managed go within a miles radius of him.

But as I wondered just how disgusting a single person's scent could be, what dad had choked out finally sank in, it's meaning finally unravelled in my head.

_Jacob had done this to me._

My mind didn't want to believe what he was telling me. He had to be lying to me, it was obvious!

"Don't you dare lie to me?" I spluttered while raising my head painfully from the arm of the couch, finally making an effort to speak out loud. "You can't make me stop loving him with lies! I'm not that stupid!"

"I'm not lying to you Renesmee."

There was a heavy sinking in my heart as I looked at his face where to my disappointment, there was no clues of a lie being told. However, I knew how much of an expert he was at lying convincingly; he'd left my mom feeling so empty that she felt as if someone had punched a gaping hole straight through her chest, all because he had been able to tell one single lie, so truthfully. His horrific lies may have fooled her but they weren't tricking me! Mine and Jacob's new found relationship was something he loathed; never did he try not to make his feelings obvious and he thought one of his little stories could break what we'd discovered apart just like that.

"There you go again!" I shrieked.

His eyes held mine, sincere, maddened. "Do you think I would lie to you about something like this?"

"Yes!" I screeched. "I know you don't want me to be with him. I know that you think he's dangerous and I know that you think this is all ridiculously risky and stupid. I know that you would do absolutely anything to terminate the feelings me and Jacob have for each other! So just stop lying to me dad, it's driving me mad!"

"Renesmee..." He started. I knew what was coming next would be another excuse, or another fantastical story about how it was all Jacob's fault. He would probably come out with the fact that all the deaths that occurred that night were Jake's fault! He must have thought that would put me right of him. The thought made me laugh out loud.

"Leave me alone, get out!" I screamed, if I was able I would have thrashed my legs and arms around like a little girl having a tantrum because that's what I was to him - just a little girl, a stupid, love struck, gullible little girl.

His eyes were ferociously dark and hard as he sprung to his feet so quickly that I wouldn't have been surprised if he shot off into the star scattered night sky like a rocket. When he was this angry, I was scared to even move. There was no need for any words to be spoken to display his feelings; all I needed was his fuming expression and a sight at his eyes, smouldering with fury, to discover just how strongly he felt about this. For some reason, I wanted to apologize. After everything he'd done for me since I was injured I had just come out with something so horrible that it must have hurt like a bullet in the heart. However, the constant stream of frustrating lies about the one I loved the most overpowered any other instinct now.

"You don't believe me, fine!" He snarled while kicking the couch I lay on several times, so hard that it jolted backwards about a foot each time and I almost toppled off onto the wooden floor. "Wouldn't want anything to ruin your fantasies now would we?"

No, I wouldn't let his words burn away into my pleasure. Jacob did love me, which was something I would bet my life on, so why on earth should I believe one second of anything else he tried to tell me when he had just told me that Jake had been the one to savage me to a state near death.

"Stop lying to me..." I whimpered with much less strength than I had hoped for in my voice. So much so that it had nearly dwindled to a whisper. His anger was just so petrifying that I couldn't stop myself from being scared, no matter how much I told myself that he would never hurt me.

Dad roared a string of words that were unintelligible to me because of the roughness in his voice, before storming towards the double doors leading into the darkness where our beautiful garden was hidden amongst the towering hedges. I had expected him to fling the doors open and sweep right out into the night but he stopped inches from the panes of sparkling glass, both fists clenched tighter than I would have thought possible. Through the rumbling snarls emerging from his lips I could hear his uneven breathing, racing faster than I had ever heard before. He raised both fists up into the air and for a split second, I think he joined me on fearing that he was going to shatter the glass of the doors but almost immediately decided against it. Instead, he just cautiously pressed his fingers on what seemed to me to be an invisible wall separating the warmth of the light from the freezing hours of night.

"Just tell me the truth why Jacob isn't here..." I whispered. That was all I absolutely needed to know right now and I _had_ to know.

"I'VE TOLD YOU THE TRUTH!" He bellowed as he paced back to tower above me. "YOU ARE AN INTELLIGENT GIRL RENESMEE; SURELY YOU CAN SEE THAT I'M NOT LYING TO YOU!" There was a couple of seconds of silence while he looked down at my unchanging expression of defiance. "UGH, IT'S LIKE HE'S BRAINWASHED YOU!"

He took another kick at the couch and this time – his strength was a little too much for the force of gravity to not take use of the opportunity. The couch rocked back onto its two back feet and then toppled backwards so the back slammed against the floor and I rolled over three times on the hard floor while the needles ripped themselves one at a time out of my skin. My teeth slashed into my tongue and my lip as I rolled one final time and my chin smacked down on the floor, bringing the taste of blood into my mouth almost immediately.

"Renesmee, are you okay?" Dad whispered with a hint of shock in his voice that I hoped was for what he had just done – his voice was such a contrast to the booming bellows that it took a second for my ears to adjust again . There were sharp prickling feelings all down my arms where the needles had torn themselves away, my leg was twisted into an agonising position and my lips and mouth were bleeding as a consequence of my razor sharp teeth – did I really look okay to him? He crouched down next to me with a horrified expression on his face. So, not only was my father a liar, he let his anger get so out of control that I got hurt. Everything about him was screaming danger in my head.

"Get away from me!" I snarled with what breath I had left in my lungs.

"I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you." he whispered, eyes burning with fading anger, sadness and guilt. "You know I didn't mean to hurt you, I would never, ever..."

He reached out one hand towards my body but there was no way that I was letting those fingers touch my skin again.

"Don't touch me." I whispered with a rough growl finishing my sentence. I shuffled across the floor in the opposite direction to where he still crouched.

"Edward?" Alice shrieked as she stepped over the pile of shattered glass that covered the floor. I hadn't even noticed it smashing but my guess that the bang of the sofa back made against the wood was a little too much for the shelf the vases were placed on to take."What the hell happened here?"

I clutched my neck with one hand as the muscles seemed to wind themselves tighter and tighter as if someone were twisting them continuously.

"Renesmee, please..." Dad whispered while he moved even closer towards me despite my warning. He ignored Alice as well as if she hadn't spoken a word.

I let a snarl flare up in my throat. "I said don't touch me!"

"Edward," Alice hissed in disbelief. "What have you done to her?"

"What did I do?" He spluttered, standing up and storming outside. "What did he do more like?"

I stared after him with hate brewing in my mind. If there was anyone to blame for what just happened it was him! Who else could it be? Was there an invisible man who had pushed that couch over so that I'd smashed my face on the floor?

"Renesmee?" Alice whispered as she scooped me up off the floor and laid me back down on the soft, leather cushions of the couch she'd set in its correct position in less than a second. "What did he do to you?"

Her fragile looking fingers brushed the skin under my eyelid where I realised that a couple of sparkling teardrops had fallen from my eyes.

"He lied," I sobbed. How pathetic my control over my emotions was. "About the night of the fight."

"Ssh," She whispered, as she sat down on the floor beside the couch with her legs crossed like a schoolchild. "You can tell me Nessie."

"He said Jacob attacked me..." My voice trailed off as I saw her expression, the exact same expression dad had on his face as he had told me this.

"Oh," She murmured, her stare dropping to the floor. "I better go find him before he does something stupid."

Less than a second later she was gone, leaving me alone with my painful silence. All I had needed was that one glimpse of Alice's expression to know that what dad had being saying was true. I rolled off the couch and dragged myself across the floor on my front to the kitchen. It took a lot of strength to push my body up far enough with one hand to reach the drawer above my head. I scrabbled about in the drawer until my hand locked on what I needed – a razor sharp knife. It was one of the professional ones I had seen so many times in the many cooking shows that swamped the channels on TV. The long, curved blade looked so sharp that it could cut anything – I knew something it definitely couldn't.

I pressed the tip of the blade to the bandages and pressed hard, as hard as I possibly could before sliding the blade down the entire length of the bulge. To my relief, the strips of material and padding slipped away from my skin instantly to the floor, revealing what was underneath. There was no congealed blood or swollen flesh like I had feared, only four long scars etched into my skin.

Four scars that suddenly triggered bursts of colour inside my head. Flickers of the night of the battle filled my mind. I could remember every second as if it was happening right in front of me. I saw Aymie's disgustingly realistic expression of fear as I charged uncontrollably to where she was stood and I saw the person standing next to her. At the time I had been so absorbed that my mind that the face of the figure had not even registered in my mind – Jacob. My finger traced along one of the spiky scarlet lines that ran from right up near my neck all the way down to my stomach. I remembered colliding with something before I had reached her. Aymie hadn't been the one to do this to me however much she would have liked to. That thing had been warm, that thing had been Jacob Black.


	17. Chapter 16

So, the ending! Sorry this hasn't been the best story in the world, but I enjoyed doing it! As I mentioned earlier there will be a second story being uploaded soon. I'm not sure whether you'll be able to find it so the name will be... Frozen Flames .

I'll put the first chapter up in a week or so, to give you the opportunity to hang on the cliff-hanger;)

Thank you very much for reading up to here! Hope you enjoy the ending!

luucycoupee

_Chapter Sixteen: Heaven and Hell_

There were twelve thousand crosses etched into the ceiling. I wondered if anyone else had ever bothered to count them, if anyone else had laid here long enough to be bothered to count them. I hadn't had enough energy to do anything else after the realisation that Jacob had torn me to shreds. I didn't want to believe it yet my mind knew that it was true. Dad had not spoken to me since we'd argued. He had only stepped into the doorway every so often to check if I was okay, always with the same pained expression on his face while we stared at each other in total silence until the memories of his anger spree flittered into my mind. Those made him leave easily. Somewhere inside I knew that I should make an effort to apologise to him but my sadness was so strong that it erased all other needs. Only the need to cry remained.

Another surge of physical pain flooded out from my heart. Why wasn't I suited to the stupid venom? I'd be heeled by now. No more burning, no more contorted limbs or unbelievable boredom. I just wanted to be me again so I could run and shout and play - if Jacob was still here...

A dark shape smacked into the glass of the skylight above me so hard that I jumped out of my skin. Another death craving monster that had been sent to kill me? They'd timed it well enough; I could even dare to say that it was perfect timing – a small slot where the house was empty of every single member of my family. Although that had been _my_ choice, I told them I would be fine and that they could all hunt together. The mollycoddling was starting to get on my nerves, I knew everything they'd done for me had been in their best intentions and I couldn't have wished for anything more but I wasn't a kid! Okay, maybe I was...

Typical, the last thing I was allowed to say to my parents was a lie, that I would be _okay_. I squeezed my eyes shut, just hoping that this time my killer would not want to suck every last dreg of life out of my body as slowly as possible. There was a scraping noise on the window frame that made me flinch. A set of fingernails on slate was not a noise I enjoyed hearing, much like the squealing of chalk scraping across a blackboard.

"Of course they locked you in." The person chuckled in amusement. That voice triggered an immediate need to run, the owner was fatally dangerous. All my instincts were screaming at me to escape or arm myself with a knife, baseball bat, whatever else was lying around nearby. I could call any one of my family's phones and they'd be back in less than a minute but would that be too late to save me? This voice belonged to the person who nearly killed me, and my parents thoroughly hated him but even after everything he'd done ... I didn't. No matter how many times they tried to drill into my head that he was dangerous I still loved him. So I ignored the voices that were now having a fit inside my head and opened one eye.

Jacob was crouched on the roof, both hands locked on the wooden edges of the window. He was pulling at it gently, obviously trying to ease it out of its locked position. My mouth fell open and I felt the corners turned up slightly. Should I be happy that he was here or, should I be afraid? No one had told me exactly why he had turned on me that night - for all I know he could have suddenly been desperately intent on murdering me for some unknown reason. Perhaps as a revenge on my father for all the pain he's inflicted. Perhaps for stealing away my Mom's humanity when I was born? He must be disregarding the fact that if he had not done so, she would be dead and I know that Jacob was truthfully happier that she was still living, even as a vampire, rather than her have dying there and then.

He frowned; the window wasn't budging without a fight. With one staggered breath he fixed his fingers firmly on the frame and then yanked in annoyance, ripping the whole thing out of the roof and shattering the sparkling glass completely. It fell down through the gaping hole onto the wooden floor making a plinking sound that reminded me of the highest ivory notes I played on the piano downstairs.

"Damn." Jacob murmured, swinging himself down through the empty window frame to land by my feet on the silver-railed, hospital style bed. His expression seemed torn, half wanting to grin and half feeling utterly disgusted - at himself no doubt. "Please don't be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you anymore Renesmee."

"Jake..." I started, but he interrupted as soon as the first word left my mouth, leaving the unspoken ones hanging precariously on my lips.

He ran one hand through his scruffily cropped hair. "I just needed to see you, to see if you were alright, to see if you forgive me. But I know what I did was unforgiveable... I just, I just love you."

"Jacob, I completely forgive you." There were tears creeping into my eyes and my voice was barely hearable, just a dwindling, little, croaking whisper. No, he did not want to murder me, how could I even have thought for one second that he would wish to do that. He loved me, he adored me, he wanted _me _over everybody else and just knowing that was enough to satisfy me for a lifetime.

"To be kept away from you when I knew that you were dying, or dead as they told me, was unbearable but when I knew you'd pulled through and you'd be thinking about what happened and hating me more every second, listening to their lies, I just couldn't stand it any longer." He groaned at the end of sentence with an expression like he wished that he had never come.

"I don't hate you, you know that Jacob. I could never, ever hate you because I love you so much and I promise I always will." There was a warm trickle down my cheek, followed by another and another - burning swirly tracks on my skin as easy as a lit match on paper because with my body at this temperature, Esme's stroking hands in the night, felt like the fingers of a fire princess. I never knew that fire could burn cold. Jacob brushed his thumb under my eye, creating another sensation of burning even stronger than the first.

"Don't cry," He whispered, then adding under his breath. "I knew I shouldn't have, I should never have thought that you'd want me again."

"Jacob," He raised his head as I spoke, linking his gaze into mine. Those eyes were so deep yet so concealed. Something that made me wonder if he'd ever had someone to be free with, someone with whom he could just let go of it all. Speak his mind, follow his heart, and be free of all the rules. With mom, he'd told me that there had been so many restrictions on how he could behave around her if he wanted the already staggered contact he had with her to remain. Dad, over everything, was the biggest. I just wanted to be the one to unlock his soul, if anybody ever would. "I want you more than everything, more than anyone."

It took a lot of force to push the towering layer of blankets, linen sheets, patterned throws and furs that were piled on top of me backwards so my hand was free of their weight. I lifted my hand up into the air, one bony, trembling finger extended.

"You're unreal," he whispered, pressing his fingertip against mine lightly, as if afraid of inflicting even the slightest pain on me. I didn't think that it was impossible to feel any more pain at the moment, unless a fresh burst of venom was set loose in my veins, but – he didn't need to know how I felt. This moment was too perfect to ruin and it wouldn't last long as it was, my parents would undoubtedly catch wolf stench any second.

He sunk down onto the bed next to me and jerked me on top of his huge body, gripping my hair tightly in both of his hands. I felt the tube that had been taped under my nose rip away from my skin, ridding my senses of the chemically smell but also ridding my body of a secure supply of oxygen. I could breathe alone but there was no promise that my lungs would hold up, with Aymie's _and_ dad's venom both still attacking my body at every opportunity, I wasn't exactly the most stable of people at the moment.

His mouth was running down my neck, his hands sliding across my shoulders and slipping across the skin on my arms. Every so often they would lift quickly, avoiding the needles and cables and monitors that protruded from my body - interrupting the flow of pulsing heat that flooded into my body with his touches. No, nothing was stopping my pleasure now. Who needed the dumb IVs anyway? I was strong; I'd just survived and pulled myself out of a full scale coma. I didn't need chemicals and drugs to keep me alive and breathing, especially not when I had Jacob Black.

I ripped the plastic of my left arm, tearing the needles out of their places so their cables drooped to the floor. My arms felt so numb that they may as well have disappeared while I'd been unconscious and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. It took over a minute to prise the monitoring clip off my thumb and fling it into the machines next to me that were now letting out a long, high pitched _bleep _to let everyone know my heart had ceased and I was dead. _Hah_, I don't think I could possibly be any further from dead at this moment in time. Jacob's lips were on my throat, my cheek, my chin, but he resisted from letting them glide up to my lips. Maybe, he believed I was still too young or too weak for a kiss. I wasn't! I wasn't a small version of the human Bella; I was so much stronger than she had been. If only people could see that! Without the needles it was harder to breath and the pain from my healing breaks and gashes was fading back now there was no anaesthetic to keep it away. If only...

"Oh my lord!" I recognised my mom's screech and then the warmth of Jake's body was gone from underneath me and I was on my back, glaring up at Bella's anxious expression. "I knew we shouldn't have left you alone, I knew it."

All the relief that the intense pulsing of Jacob's body heat against me skin was gone, leaving just the burn behind. If only that moment could have lasted forever. Life never gave me what I wanted. It had to tear apart my perfection once again; _they_ had to tear apart my perfection once again. It was them, always the two of them!

"Did he pull these off?" she demanded, fingering at the scattered needles around me.

"Do you think he tries to kill me all the time?" I whispered. My throat was tighter than tight, a fierce boa constrictor squeezing out the last of my air. I wasn't dreading the result of my neediness for Jacob's touch and my impatience with the wires that plugged my body into life, I was only dreading the response coming from my mother after what I would say next. "I took them off on purpose."

She exploded.

"What the hell were you thinking of doing? Committing some sort of suicide?" Mom yelled, her face now only several centimetres from mine. I could feel the waves of rage physically rolling off her body rapidly and bursting out around the room. Racing mainly towards Jacob, who was pressed up against the wall opposite me firmly, his whole body vibrating. My dad's hands were secured around his jawbone and his neck tightly, in a perfect position to kill and Jacob was making no effort at all to escape.

"Dad, leave him!" I shrieked, wriggling across the bed as far as I could before there was an icy hand on my leg pulling me backwards. "Stop it, please!"

Jacob leant his head to the side so he could see around my father's head. He gave me a half-hearted smile before dad's hand smashed his head back into the wall with such force that it sent a jagged crack the length of the room along the white plaster.

"You stay away from her dog. You see what you've done to her!" He took one look at Jacob's smug smile and let out a rough growl. "I'm deadly serious Jacob."

"Oh, I don't think I'll be able to stay away from her." Jacob said, though it sounded to me like he was laughing. "You see, I'm in love with her and she's in love with me. So you try and stop that, hey!"

There was a sharp crack that was followed by a harsh grunt of pain from Jacob that let me know that my dad had just snapped his jawbone with brute force. There was blood flowing out of his mouth covering Edward's hand and arm and dripping uncontrollably onto the floor creating a shining red pool at his feet.

"No!" I screeched, the muscles in my throat winding even further. "Stop!"

"Get out," Dad hissed, his nose turned up at the stench of Jacob's body so close to his own. Odour of werewolf wasn't on his list of favourite things in the world - even more now it was intensified by the blood soaking into both of their clothes. "Don't bother coming back, ever."

Jake spat a burst of blood into dad's face. "Fine."

"Jacob, you can't leave me." I clutched my throat, trying to control the breath coming in and out as much as I could.

"You'll see me again, but, just for now, I'm going to have to go. I won't be far Renesmee."

Dad backed off slightly, reassured by the fact that Jacob knew he was going to have to leave but added in another growl. "You really better be."

My hands were groping at the sheets, he couldn't go, he just couldn't leave me now. They wouldn't let me see him again. If he walked out that door now, there was a terribly large possibility that I had felt his incredible touch for the last time.

With my legs I sent a huge thwack into my mom's stomach, summoning all the strength I could. Which seemed quite a surprising amount considering my circumstances; for Jacob, I'd do anything. He made me stronger, he made it easier to block out the pain, he was my lifeline. There had been lights in the darkness that I fought to find again – I hadn't realised that deep down there had only been one light that shone so brightly that I could resurface myself from unconsciousness. It had been Jacob.

"Jake, don't go! Please don't go!"

I was nearly at the edge of the bed. He could step out and grab me if he wanted, if only it wasn't for my own father stood in front of him, strong as unbreakable steel.

"When you're older Nessie, you can be with me again." Jacob's face was stern. It looked as though he was fighting a need inside and I just hoped that it was a need to be with me. "If your personal bodyguards will allow that."

They wouldn't allow it, he couldn't go, I had to stop him. An enormous elastic band was coiled around my throat now, tightening and tightening until no more air could slip through. My lungs were screaming out their demand for oxygen so much so that I felt like I was being deafened under the noise. Even my groping fingers at the firm skin of my neck wouldn't release the tension. Suffocation – another method of death I could witness before my life had truly ended for the final time.

A different feeling of warmth hit my body, a feeling of harsh, prickly liquid flushing through my blood that I recognised instantly. I stared up at my mom and then down to her hand that held a syringe to my skin and it seemed to surprise her that my eyes were filled to the brim with true hatred, before the burning drugs knocked me out and it all went black, again. Just at the very moment I didn't want to lose it, because Jacob was there with me - kissing me and holding me like my fantasies, in which we would have a future together, no matter what happened. There was no way that they were keeping us apart, however hard they tried because love isn't an emotion that can just be snapped like that. True love is a bond so strong that however hard enemies tried to break it, to tear the two people apart, to destroy everything they wished and craved for, it would stay as strong as ever.

I'd thought of my parents as my _enemies_. They'd been the ones carry me in their arms through a storm to an Italian hospital even when there was no hope of me surviving, they'd been the ones to rouse me as far back to health as they possibly could and without my Mom arguing desperately against killing me when I was only known as a life sucking 'fetus' to everyone else, even if it might have meant sacrificing her own life, I would not be lying here now. Yet, now, I was classing them as my enemies. I was thinking of them as the people who made my lifetime hell and restricted me from feeling any happiness at all. Maybe, now, that's what they'd become...

If I had a choice, a choice between them and Jacob, it _would_ be him now. Thinking that made myself feel horrible, rotten to the core, that I was willing to do something like that to them, but I was. I was. I would. That chance would never come to me if I allowed him to leave now. Fighting was in my genes, along with a fair dose of stubbornness, making what I needed to do a whole lot easier. Impossible to any ordinary human, I needed to pull myself out of this mask of paralysation before it was too late.

How? How was I meant to do that? All I could see was darkness and there was no power in my body to get my eyelids or any other part of my body to move. Last time, my awakening had been natural, or had it? If I had laid there and let the pain continue to swamp me so much so that I could no longer think then I don't think the sudden regain of my movement would have happened. I would have to concentrate, on Jacob. Concentrate on how much I wanted to see his face smile at me again. Concentrate on just how much I needed to prevent him from stepping one foot outside of this house. Concentrate on that surge of heat that flushed through me with every single, breathtakingly incredible touch he placed on my skin. I could feel smoothness under my fingertips again – and that was all I needed. One last push and I was out of the darkness, staring up at the notched ceiling once again. There was my mom stood over me, barely a millimetre out of the place she was in when I lost it and my dad fixated in the same spot as well, only now he had his piercing stare locked on me instead of the boy I loved more than anything else in the world. His face was full of so much sadness as he looked, which only increased the guilt I felt for letting those thoughts cross my mind. Especially when one of the people that decision would hurt the most, could hear every single word.

"Jacob can't leave, please, stop him." I croaked. "I'm begging you."

Dad brushed both of his blood coated hands down his jeans creating two thick scarlet streaks on the denim and then clenched them into tight fists. "No, he can't leave now. He's gone too far this time!" and with that he shot out of the room.

"Edward, Edward stop!" Mom shouted, taking both hands off my shoulders and swinging herself up through the jagged rim of the broken window into the sky above. It reminded me of the outlines of the rocky hills that Alec had carried me over in his iron grip after they'd captured me but that was a time in my recent life that I would prefer to banish from my memories if possible.

"Mom, please... You can't let him hurt Jacob." I spluttered while twisting the needle around that she'd blindly jabbed into my arm.

"I can't let Jacob hurt _him_." She disappeared from my view and I was left alone lying on the white sheeted bed which was now scattered with shards of spiky glass, bent needles and splatters of Jacob's dark blood. This wasn't happening; it had to be a nightmare! An extremely disturbing dream that I would awake from any second, it had to be! I pinched the skin at the top of my right arm tightly between two of my fingertips. I'd seen it in the movies, people would pinch themselves and then wake up and discover that everything had been in their imagination. Nothing happened. I dug the sharpest points of my nails in again and again but there was nothing to indicate that I was anywhere close to waking up. If this wasn't going to end, I was going to have to live it...

How could heaven and hell be so close side by side?

I rolled sideways so I toppled off my bed and hit the hard floor with a thud. My strength was draining away so easily with every pull it took for me to drag myself across the polished wood towards the doorway. Behind me the bulky, blue brace on my leg was leaving a staggered scrape along the floor. I didn't have the strength to lift it so all the power I had was used on desperately yanking myself on my stomach further and further towards the steep stairs. All three of them were shouting outside, insults mixed in with threats and accusations. There was one thing I could understand out of all of this – I had to stop this, because no one else would.

I clutched the plastic brace with two hands and swung it round to rest on the first step of the spiralling staircase that led down to the hallway nearest to the double doors that led out into our dew covered garden. The weight of it pulled me forwards and I slid down at least ten steps so quickly that the rough, bumpy motion knocked all the breath out of my already constricted lungs. It took both of my hands again to haul myself down the remaining steps until I finally lay flat on my back on the marbled floor. Ten more seconds of dragging and I was out of the cool house and into the grass where the sun shone as strong as ever down onto my back. I dragged myself through the grass that waved in the wind like the hands of a million people, around the corner of our house in the direction of the growls and shouts.

"You've torn her apart, Jacob! She was happy and young and now look at her!" Dad turned his head to the side, instantly aware of my presence. He looked down at me with his eyes now full of so much rage that I wouldn't be surprised if his vision was bright red. What was I now? Old, crippled, depressed! I was four years old and sometimes, though I neither looked or acted like it, in my mind I felt it. Nobody ever seemed to consider that anymore. Everything was new to me and everything that was new delivered a new confusion. There were so many feelings to consider all at once that I didn't even know what to feel anymore, all I could pick out right now was the throbbing in my head, my limbs and my heart. Maybe I'd finally cracked amongst this madness...

"And Bella!" Dad continued, throwing his hands up into the air in his frustration. "I don't think you even know what you did to her. Do you know how much she got ripped up because you just wouldn't let her go?"

"I've torn them apart?" Jacob exclaimed in disbelief, spinning around quickly and taking a couple of steps towards the vast, menacing forest opposite us. "You want to look at yourself Edward, you're sicker than those Volturi! Everything torturous that could possibly have happened to both of them has, because of you!"

"Jake, he isn't worse than them. Nowhere near..." I croaked. If all I could do to attempt to lower the aggravation was tell the truth then that was what I would do, no matter how much I hated my Dad at this moment. There was no sign to show that he had even heard me, but if he had, I was almost certain it wouldn't alter his behaviour.

"Do you see what you've turned Bella into?" Jake screamed, twisting his body back so he was facing his original direction and cavorting himself back over to my dad so they were stood barely inches apart. Face to face, so close that it would be far too easy for one of them to strike out and it would be over so quickly for the other. "It isn't natural, she never truly wanted to be this but you made her, you lured her in like the predator you are, you forced her to follow this path! You would truly be better off dead so no one would ever have to feel the pain you cause again."

"Bella is free to do whatever she desires; I would never _make _her commit to anything."

"Oh, but you would Edward! Why don't you go ahead and kill yourself, I mean the guilt of all this must be so unbearable," Jacob mocked, a cruel smirk on his face. "You seemed keen enough to end it all yourself before and it'd save me the trouble! Or do you require my assistance in your final act?"

Mom staggered forward a couple of steps, her voice shaky. "Don't you dare listen to him, Edward Cullen, please don't listen to him."

"Bella, just shut up for once, please." Jacob growled as he shot her a glance full of annoyance.

She gawked for a couple of seconds at his attitude. "Don't you dare speak to me like that! I'm not 'fragile little Bella' anymore Jacob. I could rip your throat out so quickly you wouldn't even have a chance to feel any pain."

"I pity you Bells." Jake murmured, his voice dropping considerably in volume now his subject of taunting had changed. "Why can't we just hit rewind so you could be my Bella again, you were so beautiful then."

"She's beautiful now." Dad hissed in a flat monotone. The tension in his voice scared me; I had never seen him like this before at all. There had been the time when we'd had a standoff with the Volturi before over me, but from what bits I could still remember clearly, he never spoke in a voice as aggressive and intimidating as this towards any of them. I was so petrified that my hands were shaking like the ground in an earthquake, making it extremely hard for me to prop my body up.

"I've had enough – of this _and_ of you." Jacob growled. He pushed his shoulders back and paced backwards towards the trees, his never moving gaze locked on Edward. Not even when he spoke to me did the direction of his stare move or twitch a single bit. "I'm sorry I have to do this Renesmee but I can't just stand back and watch him ruining your life anymore."

Dad was pacing backwards now too. I was screaming at them as loud as I could possibly manage, to stop being so stupid. All that seemed to be emerging from my lips were breathless squeaks that neither of them was even able to understand. That elastic band was still there, preventing all hopes I had of screaming any verbal protests at a volume that anybody close to me would pay attention to.

I wanted to be with Jacob. I had thought before that for this, I would do anything to be with him in my future. Deaths of the people who stood in the way of my wish however, had never even begun to cross my mind. It was unthinkable to imagine them suffering in that way because I was so pathetically desperate to receive what I wanted. Jacob would kill them both if he got the chance. Killing Mom would take a lot from him because of what they used to have - but the words that meant something there were _used to. _Recently, it seemed to me like all that had been made between them had just been torn apart. Those memories of the times they spent together when mom was human had all been forgotten by both of them. Somewhere deep down they had to still love each other – whatever the circumstances right now. Though I knew that while I lay unconscious in that hospital bed in Italy that mom had been sure she was going to murder Jacob, when it came to the final strike, I strongly doubted that she would be able to finish her kill.

"Edward, Jake, stop it." Mom demanded. Her voice wavered on Jacob's name like she was undecided on how to pronounce it. Did she truly hate him, or was it a blind fold that she had unwillingly pulled over her own eyes? I believed that it was the second but my father on the other hand, would definitely fit with the first option and that was what I was most afraid about now. Jacob would also fit my dad into _his _hate list and no matter how many times they had attempted to fight it before, nothing had truly been able to fix their feelings. Sure, they could put on a disguise to hide it away in the shadows and pretend nothing had ever happened to make them hate each other so much. However, that hate had always been there, all these years. Building up more and more in their minds like the countdown of a bomb while they'd hidden it away and now, it was all going to explode and I could do nothing about it.

"Please stay back Bella," Dad spoke in barely a whisper, his eyes never moving from his opponent as well. "Please."

Then, both Jacob and my dad were sprinting at each other at such a speed it was impossible to follow them with my eyes. To me, everything seemed to race so fast that it was more than the usual unnatural – unless that was in fact the true speed they were moving across the ground. All I saw was my mum spiralling through the air towards them; everything else was a hazy blur that didn't make any sense at all.

Until I saw Jake transform and all three of them collided in the sky, nails and claws outstretched, teeth bared viciously. There was a deafening roar of growls and I realised that I couldn't breathe at all as a result of what was happening in front of me.


End file.
